Comin Home
by AriesZombieReBornBalorPrincess
Summary: AU story! Rachel grew up in New York with Shelby. Summer vacations were spent in Lima, Ohio with her father and his life partner. For her last two years of high school Rachel is forced along with Beth to move to Lima, while Shelby seeks treatment. Can she keep the friends she had made during the summer? And what about Puck?
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Glee multi-chapter story which is AU. Rachel is going to be different in this story as she grew up in New York with Shelby. Enjoy and let me know what you think of it.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing, maybe the plot but the rest belongs to Glee, Ryan Murphy and the rest of the Glee team.**

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"Baby girl, this isn't a bad thing, I promise you." Rachel scoffed, looking at her mom. Being forced to move to Lima was in no way a good thing. Like any kid she loved both her parents. The problem? She didn't want to move away from New York. For the last 16 years she grew up in New York, visiting Lima during the summer and other breaks from school. She had friends there, but her life was in New York.

"Uprooting my life is a good thing?" Rachel asked, shaking her head. "What about that is a good thing?"

"You know why, Rachel. I don't want you or Beth to go through this," Shelby sighed.

"That's why I spent my summer here? To have a final goodbye with my Mom?" Rachel asked on the verge of tears. Her anger and annoyance quickly vanishing. "You're going to recover from this and we can be a family again," she sobbed, falling into her mother's tight embrace.

"Shh, baby girl. It's going to be okay. Look after Beth, please?" Rachel nodded. She wanted to know what she was suppose to do when it came to Quinn and Noah. They had both confided in her about Beth. She knew they had an open adoption. Every visit in the past few months saw Rachel with pictures and updates for both of them.

"We'll be back," Rachel stated. She was determined to make it back to her city and her mother. Nothing was going to hold her back.

Things were going to be okay. They had to be okay.

The remaining few weeks she had with her mom were filled with Broadway shows galore. That was her dream after all. Between the shows they would shop getting Rachel a new wardrobe for school. On top of that they spent their time as a family enjoying what little time they did have together.

"I don't see why we couldn't have flown to Ohio instead," Rachel sighed after the first hour on the road. They still had roughly another 4 hours to go with the way traffic was going. Instead of driving to Ohio with her Mom they were meeting her daddy and his life partner in DuBois, Pennsylvania. The halfway point and the rest of the car ride would be with them.

"This is easier for Beth and it gives us a few extra hours to spend together, baby girl," Shelby stated, merging into the other lane.

"It's not like you're dying or anything like that. It's just treatment," Rachel scoffed. "I'm sure in a couple of months I'll be back home, Beth included."

"It doesn't work that way and you know it. I may not be dying, but that's because everything was caught in time. It's going to take time and I want my baby girls to be in a happy and a healthy home."

"I got that the first time," Rachel sighed, looking out the window. "I just hate it."

"This gives you a better chance at getting to know your Dad and Leroy. You're always sad that you have to leave your friends in Lima behind, now you can stay and build those friendships further. This really is a good thing, Rachel. You'll see."

"I'm going to miss you. This isn't about missing New York, I'll be back in a few years, but I still need you, Mom," Rachel sniffled, closing her eyes to will the tears away. Leaving her city behind was one thing, but she was finding it hard to leave her mom behind. A girl always needed her mom.

"I'll only be a phone call away," Shelby assured her daughter.

"What about Beth? Huh? What am I supposed to do with Noah and Quinn? They will want to see her and spend time with her. Am I supposed to let them? I have no idea what to do with that."

"IF they want to see and spend time with Beth, let them. It can't be easy for them and they know that they gave their rights up when they signed the papers. I can't imagine what they're going through."

"Okay," Rachel agreed, reaching to turn the volume up on the radio, letting the music fill the silence in the car.

The rest of the car ride was spent with them singing along to the radio. They had to make a few stops when Beth would get antsy in her car seat. Seeing her daddy and Leroy waiting for her and Beth at the park with a small picnic in the grass was a nice sight and she had missed her daddy so much. So what that she happened to run to him and bury her head in his chest and hold him a few extra minutes longer than normal. She gave Leroy a small hug. She had nothing against him, they just had never spent time together, he was normally always away at work.

They sat around and enjoyed the picnic that had been bought in town while they waited for the girls to show up. They were careful enough to get food for Beth and food that Rachel would eat so she didn't have to have just a plain salad.

An hour had past leaving Leroy and Hiram to pack up while Rachel was saying a tearful goodbye to her mom. Shelby kept telling her daughter's that this wasn't goodbye just an I'll see you around. Rachel held onto that as they switched Beth's seat from her mom's car to her daddy's car. With one final hug Rachel slipped into the backseat with her baby sister. Wiping the tears away with the sleeve of her shirt and swallowing the lump in her throat, she was good to go.

"Are you excited to see your friends?" Leroy asked, looking in the rear view mirror. Rachel shrugged, not in the mood to really talk.

"I missed them so yeah. I'm not that excited to be spending the last two years of high school in Lima, nothing against you Leroy and Daddy. It's just not home," Rachel sighed, picking a toy up to play with Beth making her laugh.

"I get that sweetie. But it's your home, always will be," Hiram told her. Rachel gave him a small smile and settled in for a long drive to Lima.

Rachel had fallen asleep leaving Hiram to wake her up, when they got home. Rachel got out stretching her sore limbs before unbuckling Beth from her seat. Walking into the house Rachel saw that nothing had changed. She walked upstairs seeing that her room was the way she had left it, in all it's yellow glory. She might have to change the color of the room. Across the hall was Beth's room, filled with everything Beth could need. A light pink color filled the walls. Rachel placed Beth on the changing table and quickly changed her sister. Grabbing a few toys Rachel walked downstairs with Beth placing her on the floor in the living room sitting on the floor with her.

"We need to talk," Hiram stated, walking into the living sitting on the couch, Leroy joining him. Rachel looked up at them, giving them her attention while keeping an eye on Beth. "We have enrolled you in school at McKinley and you start tomorrow. Mrs. Michels will watch Beth when you're at school and while we are at work. Just let her know when you'll be home for Beth." Rachel nodded. Beth was her sister and she was going to look after her and take care of her like any big sister should. "We know how much glee means to you and they have a meeting today after school and if you want to go and surprise your friends and audition you can go," Hiram finished. Rachel thought it would be nice to go and see her friends and it would be one less thing she would have to worry about tomorrow.

"You guys wouldn't mind watching Beth for a little bit?" Rachel asked chewing her lip.

"Of course not," Leroy responded, moving to sit on the floor and play with Beth.

Rachel smiled promising she wouldn't be gone too long and headed out to the garage where her car was at. She left the radio off on the ten minute drive to school her nerves starting to get the best of her. Glancing at the clock she saw that school was just ending. She waited in her car a few minutes letting the school empty out.

The halls were empty so finding the way to the choir room was easy. She pulled the door open the music stopping when she stepped inside. "Hi," she said nervously, looking around the room, her eyes landing on the few friends she had made on her summer vacations. Their faces looking at her in shock and surprise. She thought they would be mad at her for not coming over the summer to spend with them. She didn't tell them why she wasn't coming or that she was moving to Lima.

"Rach?" Puck asked, a grin replacing his normal smirk. Before she could reply, she was in Puck's arms spinning around the room, happy that his best friend was back. Sure Finn was his friend, best friend growing up and he messed things up last year with Quinn but they had got back to being friends. But when he was with Rachel there was no pretending. He wasn't Puck around her, never was. He was always Noah. And he liked being Noah with Rachel. "What are you doing here?" He asked, placing her on the floor.

"I go here now and I was told I could try out for glee before I start tomorrow," she replied, suddenly feeling nervous about just showing up like this.

"Yes, of course," Mr. Shue replied.

"I'm Rachel Berry and I'll be singing On My Own from Les Miserables," she stated, standing in the center of the room, after seeing if Brad knew the song to play.

She had hit every note perfectly, leaving the club in stunned silence.

"Welcome to glee club, Rachel." Puck smirked, dragging her to the back row, having her sit between him and Santana. Rachel quickly hugged Santana, turning in her seat to listen to what their weekly assignment was going to be.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for all the love so far with this story. I'm not too pleased with the way this chapter has turned out. It wasn't what I had in mind, but this was my favorite version when I tried to rewrite it. Enjoy.**

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"Hey B, how come you moved here?" Santana asked. Glee was over with but the whole club stayed behind to find out who Rachel was. And what power she held over Puck. Most of them never heard anyone call Puck, Noah, that wasn't family. It just wasn't heard of. You don't go around calling the resident Badass by his given name.

"I really don't wanna talk about it," Rachel replied quietly.

"How is it you know Puck and Santana?" Kurt asked, crossing his arms over his chest, eying the newest diva to their club.

"I met Noah at the JCC," Rachel smiled, thinking back to that time.

 _Rachel sat at a table by herself painting. Her daddy had dropped her off saying she would have fun, that it was a camp and she'd just be there during the day. It would help her make friends. She didn't want friends she was only 7 almost 8. What did she need friends for? She lived in New York, that's where her friends were at. But she smiled and nodded along to her daddy's words and acted like she was happy to be here. After all she needed all the practice she could get for when she was older and taking Broadway by storm._

 _"Oww!" She yelled, feeling someone pull on her hair. Her daddy wasn't very good at doing her hair so it was left down. She glared at the weird looking boy that had pulled her hair, nearly ripping it from her scalp. Not only had he pulled her hair, he had spilled black paint all over her pink dress with white polka dots on it. Tears from the pain and the fact that dress was ruined filled her brown orbs._

 _"What the hell, Jewfro?" Rachel gasped at the little boy sporting a black eye and a Mohawk. Rachel found the strip of hair on his head funny looking and beyond ridiculous. "You okay?" The little boy asked after scaring away her tormentor. Rachel nodded, as he studied her. "Name's Puck." Rachel giggled. "What's so funny?" He demanded, ready to shove the little girl in front of him. He didn't care if his Ma raised him better than that or not. No one had ever laughed at Puck before. Noah sure, but never Puck._

 _"Are you a fairy? Maybe you can be my fairy godfather," Rachel told him with a bright smile on her face, forgetting that he had said a bad word._

 _"I'm no fairy!" Puck scoffed._

 _"Puck is a fairy in A MidSummer Night's Dream," Rachel replied._

 _"Noah," Puck sighed._

 _"I'm Rachel Barbra Berry. I live in New York with my Mom. I'm here for the Summer visiting my Daddy," Rachel told him happily. Puck rolled his eyes at getting nearly her life story. But he couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face. He even tried to help her clean the black paint from her dress._

 _They had spent the whole summer together at the day camp at the JCC and on the weekends they'd be at the others house or the park. They had became fast friends. Puck had learned all about Broadway, even if he didn't want to and Rachel learned that Puck wanted to be a rock-star like his dad was. She had learned that he was even learning how to play guitar. He promised that he would play her song once he had mastered a song._

 _With Summer winding down. Puck was dreading the day Rachel had to leave. As a young boy he was a badass so he wasn't crying, no he got dirt in his eye. Rachel on the other hand was crying her eyes out like a little baby._

 _"Do ya gotta go?" Puck asked, his hands in his pockets. Rachel nodded, finding it hard to say anything. "Can't you like stay with your Dad?"_

 _"I'm sorry," she cried, throwing herself on Puck, hugging him tightly. "I need to go home to my Mommy. I'll be back next Summer, Noah. I promise. I'll be back in December too," Rachel told him, bring a smile to his face._

 _"Sweetie come on. We have a long drive ahead of us," Hiram called out. With one last hug, Rachel walked away from Noah. She had noticed the tears in his hazel eyes and she knew that it wasn't the dirt like he had said._

"Being friends with Noah, led to me being friends with Santana. I know Finn and Quinn as well. And I can't forget about Britt. I really did miss feeding the ducks with you Britt."

"Yay, me too!" Brittany squealed, jumping on Rachel. "I thought you forgot," Brittany frowned.

"Not possible," Rachel smiled.

"Beth? What about Beth?" Quinn asked softly, avoiding eye contact with Rachel. It had taken her a lot to heal from the events to do with Beth. Puck had caught Rachel's eyes as there was a small gasp ringing out from the glee club. Puck to wanted to know about Beth, he was trying to find a way to bring her up that wouldn't feel too personal or like he was prying.

"I have her, you can come over whenever you want to see her, both of you," she told them.

"WE gave her to Shelby, not you!" Quinn yelled, storming over to Rachel. "So why do you have my daughter?" Puck went to get involved but Rachel pushed him aside.

"She's not your daughter anymore Quinn. You signed your rights away. She's my little sister and it's my job to take care of her, when my mother can't at this point in time. You may have given birth to her, but you haven't been there. My mother is her mom not you!" Rachel seethed. She turned to Puck. "Noah if you want to come over and see Beth, you may. But Quinn is not allowed, not until she can come to terms that Beth is no longer hers," Rachel stated, turning and walking out.

"Dang, Quinn you just got schooled!" Mercedes laughed, walking out of the room with a laughing Kurt.

With a heavy sigh Puck sat down, watching as the rest of the glee club trickle out of the room. He jumped slightly feeling a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Mike standing over him. "What?" He asked gruffly.

"So that's Rachel?" Mike asked with a slight smirk on his face. Puck rolled his eyes going to get up. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Mike and whatever was going through his friends head. He did however want to see Beth. He had been wanting the day he was able to hold her to come for a long time and now that it was in front of him, he wasn't going to let the chance pass him by. He would use this chance to get to know his daughter. But this was more than Beth. He now had Rachel back in his life for longer than 3 months at a time. And he wasn't sure how he felt about that. Sure he was excited when she walked through the door to the choir room. She was his best friend and more. Could things go back to the way they had been over the last few Summers? Did he want that? Or could there be more between them?

"Are you stating the obvious or do you want something?" He asked roughly.

"Ever since you started to talk about Rachel, I had to know what it was she held over you. You never let your football buddies meet her. I'm not sure why you never let the Gleeks meet her. But I know now why you kept her hidden from the rest of us." Puck stared at his friend, wondering where he was going with this whole thing. "Dude she's hot! Have you noticed that her legs go on for miles?" Mike smirked, watching the anger and jealousy play across Puck's face.

"Shut up, Michael!" Puck hissed, pushing past him.

"Oh yea she holds the power!" Mike exclaimed, chuckling as he caught up with Puck.

"What's that mean?" Puck asked. Mike laughed harder, leaving Puck standing outside the doors to the school.

He didn't want to know what Mike meant by that. He didn't have the time to dig through his feelings, not that he wanted to do that in the first place. He wasn't suppose to have feelings. He was tough, he was a badass. And badasses don't have feelings! So what that he was excited and nervous to see Beth for the first time since she was born. So what that he was overly excited that Rachel was here. It didn't mean anything!


	3. Chapter 3

Rachel parked the car in the driveway. She figured she'd have around a half hour before Puck was to show up. That gave her plenty of time to prepare for this pretty big step for both Beth and Puck. This was the first time since Beth's birth that Puck would be seeing her in the flesh and Beth would be reunited with her father.

"Beth is upstairs napping," Hiram informed her.

"Noah is coming over to see Beth."

"Will he be staying for dinner? Nonsense, of course he is," Hiram said. Rachel smiled at her daddy's behavior. This also gave her time to figure out things with Puck. During the last two Summers they had dated but they ended it before she left. She really wanted to be his girlfriend. She was aware that he hooked up with nearly every women in Lima. She wasn't worried about him being faithful, she knew that he could be.

"Oh hey, Rachel," Clint greeted walking into the kitchen.

"Hello Clinton. How was your day at school?" Rachel asked with a bright smile.

"It's Clint, Rachel. And it was school," he responded rolling his eyes.

Clint loved Hiram and Leroy. They were the only parents he knew. His biological parents left him when he was only a year old with the Berry's, giving them full custody. Rachel had quickly became his sister. He had followed her around on every visit. They stayed in contact after they got older. Sure there were days when they annoyed each other, but that was family for you.

"You didn't give Pops a heart attack did you?" Hiram asked. Rachel looked at them, trying to figure why Clint would do such a horrendous thing. "He got his permit the other day. I won't go near a car until he learns, especially after you," Hiram laughed, pointing at Rachel.

"I was the perfect student," Rachel huffed.

"She really was," Leroy said, kissing his husband. "Clint wasn't so bad either."

"I was an epic driver," Clint boosted.

"Has he spent time with Noah while I was gone?" Rachel asked, faintly hearing Beth fussing.

"Who's Noah? I don't know any Noah's," Clint smartly said, following Rachel. Their fathers had filled him in on what was going on with Rachel and Beth. He had even helped decorate the nursery for who he would like to consider his baby sister. He was going to help with Beth over the next two years.

"Puck," Rachel answered, quickly making her way up the stairs.

"Just a few times at Temple. It's not like any cool people in this town are Jewish."

"I won't tell him you said that," she laughed, picking Beth up.

They were so engrossed with Beth that they hadn't heard the doorbell or hear Hiram yell up the stairs. They sure didn't hear the footfalls on the stairs. It wasn't until Puck cleared his throat that they jumped a part frightening Beth. Clint greeted Puck on his way out.

"I didn't mean to scare her. Can I try?" Puck asked, hesitantly stepping closer. Rachel nodded handing Beth over. Her lips formed a smile, watching Puck gently rock her in his arms, cooing in her little ear. Beth nuzzled into Puck as he softly sang to Beth.

Rachel was surprised with how easy Puck went into father mode. It was something she had only ever saw on rare occasion when he was with his sister Daniela. The longer she watched father and daughter the more she felt like she was intruding on them. She just didn't think Puck would be okay with Beth by himself. She wouldn't make a situation happen where he could freak out.

"She's adorable," Puck gushed, lightly tickling her side, her little giggles were music to his ears. He was amazed on how much she looked like him, but Quinn as well. She was the perfect mix. "I didn't want to give her up, but it was the best thing I had done. I can't thank you enough for that." Rachel walked over to give him a hug.

Puck was her friend and in a panic about finding the right family for his baby girl. He wasn't letting anyone have her. Because of how picky he was with families, they didn't have anyone to adopt Beth when she was born. That's when Rachel stepped in. Shelby had been talking about wanting another baby. Rachel instantly thought about Puck and Quinn. Beth needed a home and Shelby wanted a baby. It took very little persuasion on her part with her mom and Puck was thrilled that Rachel would do such a huge favor for him. It was a win for everyone.

"It was the only way I knew that you would still have some hold on her. Shelby isn't going to remarry, not now. Even before this, having me and even Beth was enough for her. Beth was close to you, but yet she wasn't. Do you think that maybe Quinn will ever come around?" Rachel asked, taking Beth to change her diaper.

"I have no clue, Rach. She has spent the last few months acting like Beth didn't happen. She's missing out," Puck shrugged. "I tried to get you out of it, but my Ma expects you tomorrow night for dinner. Beth too, if you want to bring her, that is," he quickly threw out, taking the dirty diaper and tossing it in the bin.

"Would you be okay with having Beth there?" Rachel asked, placing Beth on her hip.

"It'd be cool," he replied, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Rachel smiled seeing through his facade. He wanted Beth there.

"Dinner still at the same time? I'd hate it if we missed out." Hearing those words brought a smile to his face and he realized since saying Rachel could bring Beth, he could breath again.

"It is, but come whenever. You're always welcome at the Puckerman house," he winked, taking Beth and heading downstairs, Rachel right behind him.

Dinner had been filled with talk about what Rachel had been up to in New York, over the Summer since she had stayed. She was very vague on it because she didn't want to talk about her mom. She told them about the Broadway shows she had went and seen. Which of course lead into going on and on about how she was going to be up on any given stage for the Great White Way. Clint rolled his eyes at his sister. He heard that speech more than once over the years and he had faith that she would be the one to take Broadway by storm. He had even vowed to be sitting front row center for her Broadway debut.

"Babe, we've got it," Puck chuckled, sending her a wink. With his little comment from his spot by Beth who was seated between Puck and Rachel, so that way they both could feed her, Rachel sent him a glare. It was Rachel's idea and Puck wasn't going to deny being close to Beth. The connection as father was still there and stronger than ever. Just like when she was a baby, he would do anything for her.

"So Puck what did you do this summer?" Hiram asked. Rachel shot him a glance wanting to know if he had easily moved on from her, like he so easily had done during the school year when she wasn't around.

"Family and cleaning pools," he shrugged. It was nothing fancy. No family vacations. He spent time with his sister when his mom had to work and he had his own business. Just this Summer he hadn't jumped into bed with any of the cougars. Summer's were for Rachel and he wasn't about to break that.

"Any extracurricular activities?" Rachel asked. Puck had gotten the hidden message under her words. He smirked, sending her a wink. He could easily mess with her, but he was afraid that she would reject him access to Beth.

"Nope," he stated. He didn't miss the smile on her face. Maybe this could be the start of something beautiful.

Rachel had given Puck the luxury of helping bath Beth and letting him put her to bed. Seeing Puck's face light up at the suggestion, made her day.

"I'm gonna head off," Puck said, coming to stand in her doorway. "Thanks for tonight."

"It's was nothing really," Rachel told him from her spot on her bed. "I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked.

"Yeah of course. Just a warning, you might want to bring an extra set of clothes. There's a good chance you'll get the good ol' McKinley welcome with a slushie facial."

"Is there a chance you can do that?" She asked. She didn't want some random student tossing a slushie on her. At least with Puck doing it, she could feel a little better about it because he would be more gentle about it. As gentle as one could be.

"Maybe," he replied with a shrug. "Night Rach," Puck told her stepping from her room.

"Night Noah," she replied with a smile.

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 **I really wanted to bring Clint in. I loved him and even though he was part of VA, I would have loved to learn more about him. So I thought that a good little twist is to have him as Rachel's brother. I can go further into his past, if you want me to. Also I'm using this time before Clint turned into the ass he was on the show. I hope you all like this little twist. Thank you for the love shown so far with this story.**


	4. Chapter 4

Rachel had to rush out the door in the morning. She had never been late a day in her life and she wasn't going to start now. Her alarm hadn't gone off which would have given her plenty of time to figure out the perfect outfit to wear for her first day at McKinley high. She didn't have the time to fix her normal shake in the morning either, so she had skipped breakfast altogether. She had dashed out the door after checking in on Beth and making sure that her daddy would have time to take care of her before he had to be at work in a few more hours. Hiram had told her that he would be fine with Beth until he had to leave and that if she didn't want to be late for school she best hurry out the door. In her panic not to be late for school she forgot about the slushie to her face and the fact that she needed to grab an extra set of clothes, until she was standing in the middle of the hallway with grape slushie running down her face.

"I'm sorry, but it was the lesser of two evils," Puck told her, slipping into the girls bathroom locking the door behind him. She really didn't see the point in telling him this was the ladies room, because this was Noah 'Puck' Puckerman she was talking to.

"I completely understand Noah. I asked if you could do this for me," she stated, glancing at him in the mirror. "Before the ice and corn syrup hit my face, I saw the look of uneasiness in your eyes and that you regretted doing it the second it happened. I'm not mad. It's just under a few horrible circumstances this morning, I have seemed to have left my spare set of clothes at home," Rachel explained, slipping her white top over head leaving her in her black mini skirt and her white bra. It was nothing Noah hadn't seen so she felt at ease without her shirt on. She got busy washing the sticky substance off herself.

Without saying a word, Puck rushed from the room going straight to his locker and grabbed the clean football jersey that he had brought with him. "It's not much, but it's something," he told her with a shrug. Rachel carefully took the jersey.

"Are you sure?" Rachel questioned, fingering part of the 2 that formed the number 20. "Wouldn't this pretty much be saying that I'm yours?" She asked, her eyes locked on the white numbers, afraid to look at him.

"Yep," he stated, stepping closer to her. Cupping her face, he brought her face up to lock his hazel eyes with her brown orbs. "I want to claim you as mine," he husked out, bending down to kiss her soft and slow. Rachel melted into the kiss, dropping the jersey to the floor, wrapping her arms around his neck, her fingers playing in his 'hawk.

"I should be appalled with your behavior as claiming me as yours, but I find it rather flattering," she blushed, bending to pick the jersey up and tugging it over her head.

"You should be," he winked, holding his arm out for her. Rachel smiled, slipping her arm through his. He walked her to the main office. He kissed her quickly before running along to his own class.

He had hated the summer agreement they had made. He wanted to be with her, not just during the summer but the whole year. He was ready to commit to her that first summer they started to date. Long distance would be hard, but he was ready to fight for her. In the end he had agreed with her because he don't want to fight about it with her and make her any more upset than she already was about heading back to New York. It took him a few months before he was back into his cougar chasing ways, but it just wasn't the same. Now was his chance to show Rachel that he could be more than some Lima Loser that this whole town knew he would be; the only exception was his mom and now Rachel. Going to class was part of showing Rachel that he was serious about her.

Rachel stepped out of the office with her class schedule in hand. She was surprised to see Santana and Brittany waiting for her. They slipped their arms through hers, walking to Rachel's locker. "What are you girls doing?" Rachel asked, spinning the combination on her lock.

"We're going to show you around the school," Santana shrugged, like it was no big deal.

"We didn't want you to be lonely," Brittany replied. "Now you won't be," the blond clapped. Rachel smiled at her friends and put things away.

"Other than wearing his jersey you should get Puck back for that slushie before school," Santana told her coolly, working to fix the jersey so Rachel didn't look like she was drowning in it. Instead Santana had made it so Rachel was showing off a little bit of her toned stomach.

"How?" Rachel asked, shutting her locker after getting the books she would need out. "He gave me his jersey to claim me as his," Rachel told them, walking down the halls once more, using Puck's words from not even an hour ago. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"So he did have the balls to go through with it," she smirked.

"San we knew that Puck has balls. You used to do that thing he really liked," Brittany stated, looking at the Latina. Rachel held back the jealousy that was coursing through her veins. She knew that Puck had hooked up with Santana and Brittany. It was something he had told her while he was drunk and he kept saying he was sorry for doing it and hurting her in such a way. Rachel had shrugged it off like that admission hadn't hurt her one bit. Even if it had crushed her to learn that Puck and Santana hooked up a lot during the school day, before anything had went on between them.

"Anyway, I'm going to get to class now," Rachel told them, slipping past her friends.

She handed the teacher the piece of paper. She blushed lightly taking the only open seat left next to Puck in the back of the classroom. He smirked, tossing his arm around the back of her chair, "Smokin'," Puck whispered in her ear, pulling on a strand of brown locks, causing the blush Rachel was sporting to deepen to a cherry color.

"Hush," she hissed under her breath, smacking his chest lightly. Puck chuckled, sitting up. He moved his chair closer to Rachel's, his arm remaining on the back of her chair all throughout class. He was going to make the statement that she was his and that the rest of the school needed to back off.

After being given their work to do, Rachel turned to look at Puck who was still staring intently at her. She raised her eyebrows but he shook his head. Rachel licked her lips, turning back to the textbook in front of her. Not that she could focus on the words that were written in black. "What?" Puck asked, leaning closer to her.

"Nothing," she replied in a hushed tone. "Actually, San and Britt think that I should get you back for the slushie facial this morning," Rachel told him, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Satan makes a point. After lunch there will be a slushie in your locker, toss it on me if you want, or drink it. Don't matter to me," he smirked, leaning back in his chair. Rachel turned to eye him up.

"You're being serious, aren't you?" She asked.

"Yep," he replied, closing his book as the bell rang. "It's totally up to you, baby," he whispered, walking out of the room to leave Rachel in her thoughts. She gathered her things and went to see the teacher to see what she was going to need to catch up with where the rest of the students were at since she had missed a few days into the new school year.

The first part of her day was the same. After first period she found out that she had no classes with Noah. Brittany and few of the other gleeks were in a few different classes with her, but she hadn't talked to them other than Brittany. Just like they had said, Brittany and Santana were there to show her around.

"Noah is going to let me throw a slushie on him. I'm not sure I want to do that to him," Rachel told Santana as they were in the lunch line.

"Why the hell not?" Santana asked, "It's showing the people at this school that you're not one to be messed with."

"But I'm wearing his jersey. That's not going to say you don't mess with me. That's saying I'm being a jerk to my boyfriend," she explained.

"Boyfriend?" Quinn snorted from her spot in line. "That's not a word I would use to describe Puck," Quinn hauntingly laughed. "Puck isn't very loyal," Quinn snickered, sauntering off.

"Don't let her get to you, B. She's jealous. She lost out when it came to Puck after Beth was born. You're the only one he wants. I should know," Santana told her dead serious with a slight eye roll. Rachel nodded, chewing on her lip.

She didn't like how she let Quinn get under her skin so easily when it came to Noah. She could already see that no one in this school knew the difference between Puck and Noah. She got Noah, the sweet and caring one. The boy that was lost when his father walked out on him when he was a little boy. Puck was the jerk and proclaimed badass that he put on to mask how he really felt.

"I trust Noah. I just," she sighed, "this isn't just a fling anymore. It's a real relationship that's going to be longer than 3 months. No breaks that last months in between where all we have is a phone to communicate with each other."

"Rachel, he knows that. I saw how messed up and miserable he was when you left. It hurt him. He wants this. Now go throw a damn slushie in your man's face and make the fuck up with him in the bathroom," Santana told her with a shove. "Just don't tell him that I told you he was a love sick puppy after you left." Rachel nodded, heading out of the lunch room without having a bite to eat.

Sitting in her locker was a cherry slushie. Sitting next to it was a vegan friendly sandwich. A smile appeared on her face as she gripped the cold beverage in her hand. He knew her and that made this decision that much harder. Did she really want to throw this in Noah's face? It would be sweet revenge, not that it would solve anything.

It wasn't long and the halls were filling up with students and Noah was right in front of her. Without thinking about what she was doing, the cup in her hand was empty as the contents were all over Noah's face. Instantly Rachel felt guilty for even thinking about what she had done, let alone going through with it. The students around them stood silent waiting to see what was going to happen.

"Hot," Puck murmured, heading off to clean the red slush from his face. Shutting her locker and tossing the empty cup in the trash, Rachel followed behind Noah to help him clean the slushie off.

"I understand if you no longer want to be with me after this," Rachel told him, running her fingers through the strip of hair on his head. Puck chuckled, pulling Rachel down to sit on his lap.

"You're kidding right?" Puck asked, his hand resting on her thigh. His thumb rubbing a small circle on her smooth and tan flesh, sending goosebumps across her skin. Rachel bit her lip giving him a small shrug. "I was the one that told you too, right after Satan. It's only fair, Rach."

"I guess," she told him softly, getting up.

Leaving the bathroom on Noah's arm left Rachel with a bright smile. They both had a free period and they were going to the auditorium so they could work on a song for glee.


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own the song used or anything to do with Glee. I don't speak Yiddish either. Enjoy.**

 **Song Rachel is singing is Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue by Crystal Gayle. Lyrics have been taken out.**

 **Tayer-Precious**  
 **Eynikl-Granddaughter**  
 **zoyne-Harlot**

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During their free period they had tried to find the perfect song for them to sing later in the week for Glee but they were having trouble trying to find the perfect song to sum them up. Even when they thought they had found the perfect song, the other person wouldn't agree to it. There was a perfect song for them to sing for their duets assignment, it was just a matter of finding the song they both could agree on.

Rachel was relieved to see that she had the last half of the day with Puck next to her. Puck had let out a small groan knowing that he would now be forced to go to Math the rest of the semester; he could kiss his naps in the nurse's office goodbye. He had a feeling that Rachel wasn't going to be missing a day of school. She never had missed a day of school in her life and she was proud of that fact, it was only going to carry over now that she was here. Maybe Math wouldn't be so bad with Rachel next to him.

Puck found himself at Football practice after school. Rachel had sat on the bleachers for a while watching the McKinley Titans practice. Within a few minutes she found herself getting bored watching them run the same play over and over again. That's how she found herself in the auditorium. Her finger's easily gliding over the ivory keys on the piano. She had learnt how to play the piano at a very young age. Quinn's words swirling through her head as she sang the lyrics.

She hated to think about her first time with Noah only to have that memory ruined just a month later when he had hooked up with Quinn. After hearing about that, she had spent one too many nights crying herself to sleep. She never let Noah know that it hurt her. With time she had been able to move past that, at least she had thought so, but now that she was here faced with Quinn on a daily basis, she wasn't sure it was going to be so easy. Being around Beth was hard at first but she was able to overcome the little fact that she was part Quinn.

It hurt to leave Noah at the end of summer. She was doing what she had thought was best for him. She knew his ways, she knew that a long distance relationship for anyone was hard and they were only teens so it was going to be harder on them. It was for the best, even if Noah didn't see it that way and he only went along with it for her. He lied to keep her happy because he had loved her enough to let her go. She loved him enough to let him be the guy that all of Lima knew. She hated Puck, but she loved Noah.

"What's that about?" Brittany asked, sitting next to Rachel at the piano. She had overheard the whole song. Rachel's voice was pretty and hollow and Brittany just had to follow the voice.

"Just how I felt at the end of every summer," Rachel shrugged, lightly pressing down on the ivory keys.

"He hasn't been with anyone, ya know," Brittany told her softly. "I've been watching him and since you left last summer, he's been trying to be better." That had taken her by surprise. In all the times they had talked on the phone he never once mentioned anything about that. He let her believe that he had went back into his old ways.

"Are you sure, Britt?" Rachel asked, looking over at the blonde.

"Yep, he had his chances but he turned them down." Brittany saw things that no one else saw or even cared to notice. It was the little things after all.

Rachel was having a hard time wrapping her mind around that. It wasn't that it was hard to believe, because she believed that Noah could be faithful, but they weren't even together at the time. "Why?" Rachel asked, pulling her bottom lip in between her teeth.

"To prove himself to you," Britt replied, getting up. Rachel nodded, letting the cheerleader walk off.

"You still are coming over tonight, right?" Puck asked, walking down one of the aisles, not giving Rachel time to think about what Brittany had just told her.

"Of course, I just have to go home and change and get Beth," Rachel replied, picking her bag up.

"But I like this look," Puck told her with a wink, pulling her into his embrace, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"I'm sure you do, but your Mom," Rachel sighed, letting herself melt into her boyfriend's embrace.

"I know, baby. You okay?" Puck asked, feeling how tense his girl was all of a sudden.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were trying to better yourself? Prove yourself to me?" Rachel asked, pulling back to look at him. "You do know that you don't have to prove anything to me, right?" She asked.

"I do have to prove myself to you Rach. You're the only besides my Ma that doesn't see me as this screw up. I need for you to see that I can be different for you. That I'm not some Lima Loser, that there's more to me."

"Not only do I see that, but I get that, Noah. You show it to me all the time. You're more than this town, Noah and you'll see that once you make your escape."

"Maybe so," Puck stated, moving to lace his fingers with hers and pulling her from the auditorium. "Come over early and we can do our school work together, okay?" Puck asked. Rachel was sure that it was just an excuse to spend more time together and she was okay with that.

After a very intense make out session pressed against the side of Rachel's car, she was able to escape Puck's grasp and head home.

"How was school, sweetie?" Hiram asked when Rachel walked into the house. "What happened to the clothes you left in?" he asked, looking at the jersey that Rachel had on.

"Just a little accident is all, nothing major," Rachel replied with a smile. She saw no need in worrying her dad about something that wasn't luckily to happen again. "School was good, I'm going to go change and then I'm going to head over to Noah's house to do school work with him before dinner. That is okay, right?" Rachel asked, chewing her bottom lip. She had been so excited about seeing Roma; the woman had been like a mother figure for her during her summer vacations. And to see Daniela again after the last year, she was looking forward to seeing the young Puckerman sibling.

"Of course it is, sweetie, will Beth be going with you?" Hiram requested, holding the said girl in his arms. He had grown accustomed to the little girl.

"Yes. I get that she's my responsibility while she's here. I wouldn't put that on you or Leroy," Rachel insisted. "Has Mom called?" Rachel asked, walking to the stairs.

Hiram shook his head. "I'm sorry, but she hasn't called yet. You do know that you can call her, right?"

"I know and I will if she doesn't call tonight. I just don't want to interrupt anything going on, ya know?" She questioned, stopping on the bottom of the stairs. She wanted to know how her mom was doing; she just wasn't sure if it was a good time to call her. She could be in the middle of the treatment or something worse and she wasn't ready to face that possibility yet.

"Okay sweetie. I'll get Beth ready to go while you change," Hiram told her. Rachel gave him a small smile and rushed up to her room. She had found comfort in her boyfriend's jersey during the day when she would get stares from the rest of the student body. She didn't want to take the jersey off, but she wasn't ready to be hit with the bunch of questions that Roma was going to throw her way seeing that she was wearing her son's clothes.

Just a few blocks from Rachel's house, Puck was going crazy trying to clean his room up. He did want his room to be presentable for Rachel and not be filled with dirty clothes and half eaten sandwiches and stale chips that were strewn across his bedroom floor. The window was open and a few different scented candles were placed randomly throughout his room to get rid of the stench that filled his room from the dirty sweaty clothes that had been tossed haphazardly in every direction. He didn't find the smell of old moldy food to be appealing or sexy so that stench had to be gone.

"Is this for Rachel?" Roma asked, leaning against the doorjamb, arms crossed over her chest, an amused smile on her face, her dark brown eyes twinkling with happiness.

"What do ya think, Ma?" Puck asked, walking past to get the vacuum from the hall closet.

"I think it's sweet that you're going through all this trouble for her. So what exactly is going on between you and Rachel?" Roma requested, not moving from the spot she had rooted herself in.

"Ma," Puck tossed over his shoulder, plugging the cord in.

"What? It's not wrong for a Mother to know what's going on with her kids," Roma tossed right back at him. "I've watched you Noah; I've seen how it's tore you up to watch her walk away, before you jumped right into bed with those zoyne!" She scolded. "I've watched you hook up with that devil girl," she hissed, talking about Santana, which got a chuckle from Puck. "I watched you ruin your life with that gentile," she hissed, licking her lips, taking a deep breath, not wanting to start an argument with her son. "I think you'd be stupid to let her walk out of your life now that she's here for the next two years."

"Just cuz you've been planning my wedding to Rachel since we were tikes, doesn't mean that I've been doing that, Ma. I'm not stupid," he sighed, running a hand through his 'hawk. Roma raised her eyebrows, waiting for her son to say more. "Look, I'm not letting her get away again, alright?" He questioned, turning back around and switching the vacuum on, not waiting to hear what else his mom had to say on the topic of his love life. Roma shook her head and left her Noah be. There would be time later when Rachel was around to bring the topic of them up once more.

"Rachel!" Daniela screamed, running past her brother, launching herself on Rachel. The older girl swung the child around earning laughs from said child. Puck shook his head, walking to the car and getting Beth out. He was left amazed at how much the baby looked like him and how gorgeous the child truly was.

"Dani, look at you," Rachel beamed, setting the young girl down.

"Daniela, would you let poor Rachel in the house," Roma scolded her youngest, a smile on her face at the sight of Rachel.

"Sorry," Daniela said, grabbing Rachel's hand and pulling her into the house.

"Hello Roma," Rachel greeted, hugging the older woman as she entered the house.

"Hello dear, is that my eynikl?" She questioned, her eyes watering at the sight of the baby seat that Puck sat on the couch.

"Ma, meet Beth," Puck said softly, holding the baby for his mom and sister to see.

"Tayer," Allie cooed.

After they had fussed over Beth, Roma headed to the kitchen to start on dinner. Puck carrying a happy Beth led Rachel up to his room so they could work on their school work in peace from his mom and sister. Puck sat on his bed with Beth as Rachel sat at his desk and pulled out her work to start on it. She had her back to Puck and he was more interested in Beth than he was the work that he had to do. Rachel would watch him from the corner of her eye, a smile on her lips as she watched just how adorable Puck could be.

"You would have made an amazing father, Noah," she told him softly. Puck shrugged, glancing over at her.

"I wanted to keep her, but I don't think I could've," he told her leaving the rest on said, placing Beth on his lap.

"It is hard. You did what was right and there is nothing wrong with that, but now you have your second chance."

"Are ya gonna let Quinn see her?"

"Not until she can show me respect. I don't want to keep Beth away from her, but she is not giving me much of a choice in the matter." Puck nodded, rubbing Beth's back as she curled up on his chest. Biting her lip, Rachel moved to sit next to them on the bed. She curled up under Puck's arm, placing her hand on Beth.

A few hours later when dinner was done that was the same place that Roma had found them in. A huge grin spreading across her face. She raced down the hall to her room to find her camera. A moment like this needed to be captured at least half a dozen times.

"Noah, Rachel," she whispered, gently pushing on them not wanting to wake Beth up.

With groggy eyes the two teens started to come to. Rachel gave a sheepish smile for being caught curled up to Puck fast asleep, Puck on the other hand cursed himself out for letting his mom see him asleep with Rachel, and by the faraway look on his mother's face, he had a feeling things weren't going to be so easy to get out of after Rachel and Beth leave later.

"We'll be down shortly, Ma," Puck grumbled, rubbing his face. Roma looked at the teens nodded her head and walked out of the room.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep," Rachel stated, shaking her head.

"Baby, s'alright," Puck replied, moving the blankets around on his bed to keep Beth in the middle of his bed while she slept.

"I don't want her to get ideas, Noah," Rachel stressed, fussing with her books that lay open on his desk. She whipped around glaring at the heartless jerk before her, who had the audacity to laugh at her. "I do not see what's so hilarious about this, Noah!" She hissed.

"Rach, baby," Noah said, closing the gap between them. "I'm not laughing at you, I swear it. You know my Mom. You know how she is. She's been planning our wedding since you walked into Temple at the young age of 7. Us falling asleep didn't give her anything she hasn't been thinking already."

"Really?" She asked in a small voice.

"Yep," he replied, pulling her into him, his arms going around her waist. Rachel snaked her arms around his neck playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. To think about that part of her future scared her. Taking Broadway by storm gave her hope, but marriage and kids was scary to think about. "Let's head down before she gets anymore crazy ideas about us," he told her with a joking tone. Rachel however saw the reality of his words and was in a hurry to get to the kitchen. Puck followed behind his girlfriend laughter ringing out around them.

"How is your Mom, Rachel?" Roma asked, placing their plates of food in front of them. Rachel smiled giving her a small thanks as Puck warned his mom.

"Noah, it's fine really. She's okay. I haven't had the chance to talk to her since being here. But they had caught the cancer early. It's just going to take some time," Rachel explained. Other than her family she hadn't told anyone about her mother but being with the Puckerman's felt like family to her.

"That's good, sweetie," Roma said, sitting down. Puck had taken her hand under the table, gently squeezing his girlfriend's hand letting her know that he was right there if she needed anything. Rachel was thankful for his support and pulled her own strength from her boyfriend.

"Are you going to leave us?" Dani asked, around a mouthful of food. Roma scolded her youngest about talking with a mouthful of food.

"Not until after high school, Dani." Before being forced to move to Lima, she wasn't happy that she had to spend the next two years of her life in such a small town, not when New York was her home. Now however, the thought about leaving made her sad. This was her time to see how strong her friendships are, to see if things with Noah could be more than just 3 months. It gave her the chance to really get to know her dad and his partner. To really get to know Clint now that he was growing up. "There is no other place I want to be," Rachel said, squeezing her boyfriend's hand.

"What is going on between the two of you?" Roma asked eyeing her son and guest up. "You can't hide anything from me," she warned. The two teens shared a look with each other. It was going to come out and get back to their parents anyway. He wasn't ashamed to be with Rachel and she wasn't ashamed to be with him. In many ways they made each other better and mellowed the other one out.

"Must ya ask, Ma?" Puck asked, pushing a carrot around on his plate. "We made things official this morning at school." He cringed hearing his mother shriek.

"Please Roma; don't make this a big deal. We were always planning on being together when we ended up in the same place as each other and now that we have it would be fruitless not to try at a relationship," Rachel explained. Noah nodded; he too didn't want to make a big deal about him and Rachel being in a relationship.

Reluctantly Roma agreed and kept her ideas and plans in her head about the two teens before her. She could picture their wedding but that had been something she had been able to picture when Rachel walked into Temple holding Hiram's hand nearly 10 years ago.

After that conversation seemed to flow over how school was and other small topics. They had even made plans to play at the park on Saturday when Puck was being forced to watch his sister, while his mom had to pick up an extra shift. Puck really didn't mind and the fact that he would be spending the day with Rachel and Beth as well made him feel giddy and for the first time he felt that it was okay not to feel like a badass, not when his girl and daughter were involved. Around Rachel he wasn't the badass that everyone else got. He didn't have to prove that nothing hurt him. No he had to prove that he could be the man she could trust and lean on.


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm so sorry for the small delay with this chapter. It's just what I had planned for this chapter I completely forgot what that was and then I was drawing a complete blank on what to do with it, but luckily I have it all sorted out. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. Enjoy.**

* * *

It had been a few weeks since Rachel had dinner over at the Puckerman's house. Roma had let Puck get away with almost everything after learning that her son was smartening up and found himself with Rachel after everything that her son had put himself through. Apart of Roma wanted to be mad at Rachel for always breaking her son's heart when she left to the city, but she couldn't find it in herself, because she saw how depressed Rachel got when she had to leave as well. It had been a predicament for everyone involved. Despite the ordeal that Shelby was going through, Roma was thrilled that Rachel was going to be in town for the two years. She already knew that her son planned on going to New York the first chance he got after he graduated. The thing that pleased her the most was to see that Beth was growing up Jewish. In a twisted sort of way, that brought her relief to know that her granddaughter was raised in her Jewish faith.

It was that time of the week for Glee rehearsal. Things with Kurt had left the group one person shy of the 12 members they needed to have. Kurt had left because of the bullying with Karofsky. He transferred to Dalton Academy. That left the glee club in heavy recruiting and they had forgotten about the duets they were supposed to perform. With Sectionals right around the corner they spent their free time thinking of who they could bring into their little family of misfit toy. They had just finished up their group number when Mr. Shue had ended Glee for the day. Puck and Rachel had made plans to take Beth to the park since it was still nice outside and not that cold yet. Puck had tried to talk Quinn into coming around and seeing Beth, but she wouldn't budge. Puck even gave her a picture. Quinn had turned her nose up at the picture that had her blonde haired daughter on it, stuffing it in her bag, walking away from Puck and the situation altogether.

"Matthew?" Rachel questioned, seeing the boy she had became friends with over the summer.

"Hey, Rach," the boy smiled, drawing her into a hug.

"What are you doing here?" She asked shocked to see the boy. He had moved into the apartment next to hers the first week of June. Despite him being shy, he came around and they became fast friends. Obviously he left some things out of his story.

"A little birdie told me that you guys needed another member for Glee club," he smirked. Rachel gave him a funny look. Before she had the chance to question him about it, Puck was right next to her, his arm sliding around her waist pulling her into his side. "You two are dating now?" He asked with an amused smile, looking from his former friend to his new friend.

"Rutherford," Puck spoke in greeting, looking between the amused boy and his bewildered girl. "Ya know each other?" Puck asked, looking between the pair.

"I could ask the same question," Rachel stated, looking from the amused Matt to the jealous face of her boyfriend. "What am I missing?"

"Berry, it's what are we all missing, here," Santana said, walking up to the trio, the rest of the club joining them.

"This is my old school, Rach," Matt explained to her. She nodded in understanding.

"Your friends and your old Glee club," she smiled.

"Yeah," he agreed. "My parents saw how depressed I was becoming in New York after you took off on me." Rachel winced hearing that. That had not been her intention whatsoever. "After a long freaking talk they decided it would be best if I moved back to Lima to live with my Aunt and Uncle until after high school," he rushed out, explaining to everyone else what was going on.

"We were neighbors, I took him in the few months I had left in New York," Rachel explained, feeling all eyes on her. "He was like a sad puppy, I couldn't just leave him there," she smiled, resting her head on Puck's shoulder. "He just left out that he was from Lima, Ohio."

"Hey now," Matt said, a grin on his face. "You didn't mention that you were moving to Lima, Ohio. I had to find out through your Mom when she turned up with no Rachel and no Beth," he stated in a sad tone. "How is my little monkey doing?" He asked. Rachel felt Puck tense up beside her.

"She's wonderful man," Puck spit, removing himself from Rachel and stalking out of the room. Rachel gave Matt a sad smile and chased after her boyfriend.

"Noah, stop," Rachel hissed, failing to catch up to her boyfriend.

"You knew how I felt about giving her up, Rachel," Puck whisper yelled, spinning around on his heel. "And yet you let one of my good friends be her fucking father? That's just messed up, even for you!" He snorted, shoving a finger in her direction.

"It wasn't like that, Noah. Matt was always Uncle Matt to Beth. I could never replace you as her father," Rachel told him. "The fact that you even think that, it's…" Rachel trailed off, walking away from her boyfriend. She didn't have the strength to fight with Noah over this whole thing. Not until he had taken the time to cool off about it all.

"He'll come around, Rach," Matt told her, carefully approaching her. She gave him a shrug.

"He's the one that I told you about loving. My Noah," she sighed, pulling her locker open. "Ironic, huh?" She asked, pulling books out. "So did you move back just because I was complaining to you about Kurt transferring to Dalton leaving us with an open space?" She asked, shutting her locker and zipping her bag closed.

"Not really," he told her, taking her bag. "I was depressed, I quit the football team, stopped singing, dancing and even talking." They ignored the stares that they were getting from the rest of the Glee club that was watching them like a hawk, except for Puck. He was furious with the way Matt had swooped in on his girl and left school in a huff. "The more you talked about Glee club the more I started to put names to faces and I missed it, slushies and all. I just don't understand how either one of us never told the other one about being in Lima," he chuckled.

"It never came up, but why didn't you tell me that you knew where I was? Do you like being a creeper?" She asked, unlocking her car. Matt chuckled, placing her bag in the back seat.

"No, it was nice to hear about them without being pressed for information on them. And I figured if you knew that I knew them then you would confront them or something and they would press you for information about me. Either way you look at it you would have been stuck in the middle and I don't want you to be put in the middle of this," he explained for her.

"Thank you for that Matthew," she told him with a bright smile, pulling her car door open.

"I'll go over to Puck's and have a little chat with him about me and Beth. I'll make him understand that I wasn't replacing him as her father, just fun loving Uncle Matty. Things will be good by tonight, count on it, Rach."

"I hope so," she told him, shutting her car door. Things would be horrible for her if things with Noah went up in smoke.


	7. Chapter 7

"What?" Puck growled seeing Matt standing in his bedroom doorway. The last person he wanted to deal with right now was Matt. The dude was supposed to be his friend and not trying to steal his girl from him. That shit wasn't kosher. You don't go around stealing your boy's girl. The shit with Quinn didn't count. She came on to him. She got him drunk. He was too far gone to care that she was his best friend's girl. He did regret it come morning. He wanted to tell Finn the truth right from the beginning; it was Quinn that had to keep it a secret. So of course shit was going to hit the fan when the truth was finally out for the world to know. And he doesn't even know how Finn found out about Beth not being his. But Puck didn't care, because he wanted to take care of his daughter and not have someone else to do his job. Though in the end that thought didn't matter, because Quinn decided on her own that they weren't keeping Beth. And maybe that was the right choice in the end. And now? Now he has his chance at being the father he never had, being the father he wanted to since learning that Quinn was knocked up with his kid. And just when that starts to go in his favor, in walks his supposed best friend. That shit hurt.

"I'm not stealing Rach from you. She's more like a sister to me. Kinda hard to be anything but when she talked nonstop about you, even if I didn't know it at the time," he chuckled, braving his friend's wrath walking into the room to sit in the desk chair. "Rach took care of Beth a lot and it was easy to grow close to the little girl. But I'm just her Uncle Matty. I could never replace you as that girl's father, I wouldn't want to either." Puck scoffed at his friend's explanation. "Rachel told me about the whole situation and I thought it sounded like you and Quinn I just couldn't be for sure, because Rachel left out names, I thought if it was true, if that little girl was yours, I wanted to know her so I could tell her stories about her Father." Puck looked at his friend. "What Quinn did to you wasn't right, that little girl deserves to know that her bio Dad loves her and there isn't a thing he wouldn't do for her."

"Really?" Puck asked skeptically.

"Of course, I wouldn't move in on your girl or your kid," Matt told him seriously.

"What if you would have been wrong?" Matt thought over Puck's words carefully, gave him a shrug.

"Then the little girl would know that just because she didn't have her Father around, that she wasn't any less loved, and that he was doing what was right for his little girl, even if it ripped him to shreds," Matt spoke after a few silent moments. "I know I couldn't be sure about that, but anything to make the child happy, right?" He asked his friend. Puck nodded, knowing he would make a child feel loved even for a second. He knew better than anyone what it felt like to be abandoned by your father. "Look, I just had this gut feeling, but I didn't know how to approach that subject with Rachel. Maybe I should have told her about Lima, but I didn't want to focus so much on my past when we were hanging out. She didn't even tell me that she was leaving the City. I hated her for a long time after I found out she came here, but it wasn't her fault. She just wanted to have fun and not ruin our friendship by bringing it down," he shrugged. "We good?" Matt asked, moving across the room. He had spilled more of his emotions than he had wanted to. He was ready to go blow shit up on video games.

"Yeah, um thanks ya know," Puck told him. Matt gave him a funny look. "For looking out for Rach in New York these past few months and Beth, clearing things up," he explained further, rubbing the back of his neck. He wasn't the type of person to thank anyone for anything, unless you fell into the categories of family and Rachel.

"She looked out for me in New York. It was more for Rachel than for you," he replied with a sheepish grin. "I hate seeing her upset because I was stupid enough to get in the middle of something." Puck chuckled giving his friend a nod and followed him down the stairs and out the door. He was going to go fix things with Rach before he let it go on too far. He had just gotten her back he wasn't going to lose her that fast.

He frowned seeing that there were no cars in the driveway. He got out and made his way to the door. He wanted to run but he didn't want to seem anxious. He knocked and rang the doorbell and after five minutes of alternating between beating on the door and ringing the doorbell with no answer Puck left defeated. It wasn't until he was almost home that remembered that they were headed to the park today with Beth. He turned down street roads until he was headed in the right direction. The park was filled but there was no sign of Rachel or Beth there. He left feeling worse than before. He'd talk to her tomorrow at school.

Except she wasn't at school, he should know. He had most his classes with her and she wasn't in any of them. He didn't find her at lunch. It was the end of the day and Rachel was nowhere to be found. He had even tried to call her cell and her house and both times sent him through to leave a message. He never left a message; he did however send her a text that had gone unanswered. He was starting to freak out. He wanted to ditch school and go to her, but he didn't even know the one place she would be.

"Where's Rach?" He asked Matt, looking around in a frenzy.

"I haven't talked to her since yesterday at school," Matt responded. "Why something wrong?" He asked. He had spent his day getting everything in order to come back to school. He was fully enrolled and he was going to rejoin the football team and he had already been welcomed back to Glee with open arms. He had spent his day catching up with the rest of the guys he had yet to see since yesterday when he stopped in after school. The fact he hadn't seen Rachel all day, slipped through his mind. He was trying to give her space so she could have time with Puck. Hearing the worry in his friend's voice about Rachel he was starting to worry about the pint size diva that he had grown to care for in such a small amount of time.

"Fuck!" Puck cursed, running a hand through his 'hawk. Where were his girl and his daughter?

Football practice went by in a blur and he ran from the field to his truck. He raced through the streets of Lima to Rachel's house. He sighed a breath of relief seeing that there was a car in the driveway. He raced to the front door, knocking on the wooden door until Leroy had pulled the door open giving him a sad look.

"Where's Rach?" He asked, pushing his way into the house, making a dash up the stairs only to see that her room was empty. He dashed across the hall to where Beth's room was at and that was empty as well. "What's going on?" He asked in a panic turning around to see Leroy standing in the hall.

"Rachel didn't call you?" The older man asked. Puck shook his head. "Something has come up with Shelby and Rachel and Beth were needed. She'll be back on Sunday." Puck suddenly felt numb hearing those words. Why wouldn't Rachel call him or even answer his calls? It was messed up.

The drive to his house was all a blur. How he made it home and showered was beyond him. The empty bottle of Jack did nothing to recall the previous night. He pulled the blanket over his head, not feeling like going over to Mike's house for the ritual of video games on Saturday mornings before the party that night. This should be the time where he's out finding an easy lay to get over his problems with Rachel. But he couldn't do that, he was better than that. He'd lay around in his misery until Rachel came back.

He had left his phone off all weekend, not wanting to be bothered with why he was sulking around like a child. He was a badass and he didn't sulk, especially over a chick. But Rachel was different, made him see that he could be different, that he was better than what he was letting on. And he liked feeling like that. He liked feeling that he was better than his fuck up of a dad, that he was destined for something bigger and better than anyone in Lima, Ohio.

When Monday came around he had rushed to school. He waited by Rachel's locker but she never showed up. He said screw it and ran out the doors. He drove to Rachel's house. He was surprised to see that Rachel's car was sitting in the driveway. Worry shot through him on why she was missing another day of school. He rushed to the door to see Leroy leading a hysteric Hiram out of the house. Leroy was holding asleepy Beth in his arms. He frowned walking past them shutting the front door. Panic coursed through him seeing the red rimmed eyes of his girl. He said nothing pulling her tight against him.

"What happened?" He asked, running a hand through her hair as they lay curled up on the couch. She sniffled, moving further into his embrace.

"It's…" Rachel told him, not able to say anymore before another round of violent sobs came out. Puck placed a soft kiss to the top of her head. He looked around the room; nothing looked to be out of place.

"You don't have to tell me what happened, if you're not ready for that," Puck assured her. He was content with just holding her until she was ready to tell him what was going on. She nodded and curled up into him. They started to watch Funny girl, but the second Rachel fell asleep, Puck changed the channel stopping once he came across Transformers.

He was content in just holding his girl; letting her problems leave her while she was wrapped up in the one place he knew she felt safe from the world. Pride had shot through him at that thought alone.


	8. Chapter 8

**The song Puck sings is Bad Day by Daniel Powter, lyrics have been removed**.

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Rachel sat up, quickly making a dash to the bathroom. She groaned looking at her reflection in the mirror. She cleaned the dried make up off her face. Making herself presentable she walked out to the living room, where Puck turned the TV off when he heard Rachel come back into the room. She sat on the couch facing him, her left leg tucked under her. Puck turned so he was facing her, he reached out, lacing his fingers with hers, giving her the comfort he knew she needed right now.

"You don't have to tell me, Rach," he whispered. He watched as she gently shook her head, sending her hair flying around her face.

"I need to tell you," she whispered, swallowing the lump in her throat. He nodded, moving his free hand to cup her face, she placed her free hand on tops of his. He waited in silence for her to speak up. He didn't want to ruin this for her and make it any harder than it already was. "The black spot they found, it was supposed to be an easy fix, in and out. She was supposed to be fine, but there was more cancer than they had saw on the X-Ray. They don't know if she'll recover," she told him in a rush, her eyes glistening as she went. She closed her eyes to keep the tears from falling. She was tired of crying over this. Ever since she found out she's been crying non stop.

Puck wasn't sure what it was he could say to make things better for her. He pulled his distraught girl into his arms, his fingers gliding over her back, getting her to relax. His mind drifted off to Beth, what was going to happen to the little girl that he had made, to the little girl that was part him? Rachel had her own life to live, she couldn't look after Beth the rest of her life and he wouldn't want her to take on responsibility that should have been his. He wanted to ask her, but he didn't want to come off as insensitive towards her.

"Rach, I can't tell you that things are going to be okay, because that's not true. I do know that you're going to be okay, that you're strong and that going through this will only make you stronger as a person. I can tell you that I'm going to be right here with you the whole fucking time, I'm not leaving you. Even when I'm not with you, I'm just a phone call away, okay?" He asked softly, pressing a soft kiss to her head. She nodded against him.

"Thank you, Noah," she told him. She pulled away, going to brush her tears away, only Puck beat her to it and his thumbs collected the last of her tears.

"It's nothing really," he replied dropping his lips to hers in a sweet little kiss. He rested his forehead against hers.

"If anything happens to my Mom, then my Dad and Leroy are going to have custody of Beth. They even said that when you leave school and get to place in your life where you can take care of a kid, they will gladly give you custody," she told him. His heart swelled at those words.

"Not going to happen." Rachel frowned looking at him. "Not because I don't want her, I do or I did, she's my baby and I love her, but I can't take care of her now, but your Mom?" He questioned, pulling away to look her in the eyes. "She's going to make a full recovery and you're gonna have her there when you graduate high school, when you make it to NYADA, when you take Broadway by storm, she'll be there when you get married and when you have kids of your own."

"You're the best," she smiled, pulling him for a hug.

"You rubbed off on me," he winked. Rachel giggled, smacking his arm lightly. That one little comment worked, his girl was laughing and for a moment he was able to get her mind off of the family problems going on in her life.

They had moved from the living room to her bedroom so they could lay back and watch movies. He could see that Rachel was getting tired and he didn't want her to be uncomfortable and woken when the rest of her family came back.

The second she passed out on him, he kissed her forehead and moved from her bed, careful not to disturb her. He wrote a note leaving it where she would easily find it when she woke up. He smiled at the Berry family as he headed out the door. It wasn't that he didn't want to stay with her all night, but he needed to get home to look after his sister while his mom worked.

The next at school Puck was surprised to see Rachel walk through the door a smile on her face. He had known her long enough that he could see right through her smile. He could see that she was still hurting, that she would rather be at school than at home where all she could think about was her mother. At school she'd be given the chance to take a break from her personal life.

Puck noticed that Rachel had been quiet all day at school. Brittany and Santana were giving him looks that would strike him dead; Matt asked him more than once what was going on with Rachel. It made him feel fucking ecstatic to know that she hadn't gone to anyone else.

It wasn't until Glee that afternoon when Mr. Shue decided to redo the duets since Kurt had left and Matt had come back. Instead of picking their partners like they were able to do the first time around they were randomly paired together. He lucked out when he was put with Rachel. He did have a feeling that she was going to scrap the first song they planned on doing, not that he minded that at all. Before they broke off into the partners scattered around the school, Puck stood up saying he had a song he wanted to sing. He placed a stool in the middle of the room, getting his guitar ready. He licked his lips, slowly strumming the melody out.

"Rach, baby, we all have bad days," he stated, locking his eyes on hers. She gave him a weak smile, appreciating what it was he was doing for her. If they would have taken the chance to look around they would have seen the confused faces of their Glee mates. Matt sat next to Santana and they shared a look wanting to know what was going on with their pint-sized diva.

He could see the little things in her eyes. He could see the passion she once had for everything around her was dwindling away because she was worried about her mom. Her blues skies were being taken over by the grey clouds that loomed over her head that she couldn't just shove aside.

He noticed as the day went on that she was retreating inside of herself, pulling up a protective front, her fake smile staying on her face, becoming permanent. They believed she was okay, but not him. He knew her better than he knew himself at times. She was slowly falling to pieces right in front of his eyes.

It wasn't uncommon to have a bad day, it was how you were able to pick yourself up and dust yourself off that counted the most. He had heard her in the auditorium when she avoided him earlier in the day during free period, singing her little heart out. He walked away, knowing she needed the moment to be alone, singing the sad song she had in her heart. It was how she coped. She needed something to smile about, to laugh at and to joke with her friends.

He believed in her. She was going to take the world by storm. She was meant for bigger things. She was losing focus on that with her mom being sick. She was letting what she wanted fade away while she dealt with the on goings of her mother's treatment. She needed to come back to who she was and be herself, because she was strong.

"Oh, Noah," Rachel sniffled, launching herself at her boyfriend, a loss for words.

"I know you're having a bad day, but things will get better," he said against her lips.

They were supposed to work on their duets but most of the Glee club was circled around Puck and Rachel wanting to know what was going on. Puck wasn't saying anything because Rachel didn't want it to get around. She had already given looks to Santana and Matt that she would explain later about what was going on to them and Brittany.

"I don't know what's going on, Rach. But you have people that love you and they won't let anything happen to you," she told the smaller girl with a hug. "If you get like really sad, I'll let you borrow Lord Tubbington. He always makes me feel better."

"Thank you for that Britt," Rachel replied, turning to Puck. "We should really find a new song for this assignment." He knew an out better than anyone in Glee and he was going to take it. He didn't want Rachel to get overwhelmed. He held out his arm for his girl. She smiled slipping her arm through his.

"I have the perfect song in mind," he told her. "Walk with me," he winked, getting a blush to creep up her face.

Badass or a pussy, it was worth making his girl smile.


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey Rach?" Puck questioned, looking up from the picture in his hand. She gave him a questioning look. Over the last week things had gotten better for her. She had been informed that her mom was doing better but she still wasn't out of the woods yet and that it was still a long road ahead for all of them. "'S good to see that ya grew into that nose of yours," he teased. Rachel looked down at her lap, the smirk Puck wore was gone and he was right by his girl's side, feeling bad for the comment he had made. "Baby, I love your nose," he whispered, pressing a soft kiss to her temple. Rachel sniffed, using the back of her hand to wipe the tears away.

"Thanks for that, Noah. But it wasn't the comment that hurt. It's just that day," she sighed, looking at the picture. She was standing in the middle of her parents, in front of the monkey's exhibit at the Zoo. Puck glanced at the picture seeing the smiling faces that looked back at him. Nothing about the picture screamed you messed up my life.

"'Bout what?" He asked, removing the picture from her hands sitting it on the table, taking her hands in his.

"That was the last day we were a real family. They took me to the Zoo and when we got home, they sat me down and told me the best way possible for a 6 year old to understand that my dad wasn't going to be living with us any longer, that he had found someone else, who turned out to be Leroy. I didn't understand how he could love anyone but my Mom. I couldn't grasp the concept that he liked men. That was the day that my parent's divorce was legal and he left us, alone in the city sad," she paused, licking her dry lips, dropping her head to his shoulder. One last good memory before things changed. Hiram and Shelby had been high school sweethearts, married after college because it made more sense to wait. "It took me months to forgive him. It wasn't until I was forced to visit him during the summers when we became friends that I forgive him because I missed him. And he was happier with Leroy than I can ever remember him being when he was with my Mom," she finished, closing her eyes. She hadn't thought about that day in years now.

"Ya can't resent Leroy for breaking up your family, Rach," he stated. Rachel tensed, pulling away from him, a fight clear in her brown eyes. As quick as the fire came into her eyes, it was extinguished just as fast.

"I try not to, but I can't help it," she sighed. "He broke my parents up, ruined my family."

"No, he made your family better, Rach. He cares about you and loves you like you're his own," Puck soothed, pulling her back into his side. "Your family is better now than it was then. Don't you see that?" He asked. "Besides if they would have stayed married, you…me…it…" he trailed off finding it hard to voice his thoughts.

"We may not be together now or have the past we do, but in the end, we would be together," her voice soft, her hands warm against his cheeks. "I believe that because you will get out of this town with or without me. You Noah Puckerman are meant for great things." He never blushed, it wasn't cool to be caught blushing, but when Rachel praised him like that, he couldn't stop the blood from rushing to his face.

"So uh," he cleared his throat. "The song for glee," he said. Rachel nodded; he had yet to say what song it was he had in mind. "I have this rule that I only sing songs by Jewish musical icon's in glee, but I can overlook that small fact this once, because this song," he was saying, handing the sheet music to Rachel. Technically it would be the second time he overlooked that rule, because it was Rachel and she made him do things that he wouldn't normally do.

"But I really do feel as if it's the perfect song for us to sing. Sums us up pretty perfectly," she rattled off, scanning over the lyrics on the paper in front of her. He nodded, watching as her eyes shined just as bright as the star she was going to be one day. She smiled looking up at him and that's all it took for him to close the gap, he lips brushing against hers.

"Can't you two get a room?" Clint asked disgust in his voice as he walked into the kitchen. "This is where we eat and I would like to keep my food down," he retorted sending a smug look at his sister.

"How is that?" Rachel asked. "Having a gag reflex that is?" She questioned further. Clint shook his head, leaving them be and Puck sat staring at her with his mouth agape. That shit was hot, how in the fuck did he forget about that? Rachel giggled, closing his mouth. "You know this Noah," she pointed out, getting up to put the pictures away.

He straightened himself out. Yeah he knew that and it was hot! "There's this petting Zoo this weekend, maybe we could take Beth," he suggested, needing his mind to be elsewhere.

"I'd like that," she smiled softly at him. He smiled, following Rachel up to her room. She wanted to work on the song, but he had other things on his mind, things that had to do with them on her bed with her laying on top of him as their mouths did all the work.

They were at the bottom of the stairs when there was a knock on the door. Rachel pulled the door open, Puck standing behind him. He tensed up seeing a mini version of him. "Hello," Rachel greeted in her cheery voice.

"Hey," he responded, his eyes trained on Puck.

"I'm Rachel and this is my boyfriend, Noah," Rachel continued on, not noticing the tension that was building around her.

"'S Puck," he stated, jaw tense. "How's the ol' man?" he growled, stepping back.

"Jake," he replied looking at Rachel with a smile. "Thought you could tell me," Jake muttered. Rachel looked between the two of them. Her mind racing at the possibility that Puck had a younger brother. And from the looks of it they knew the other existed to an extant.

"Jake dude, come on," Clint yelled from the top of the stairs. Jake pushed passed his half-brother and rushed up the stairs, happy for this escape.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Rachel asked, closing the front door turning to look at her boyfriend.

"No," he growled, going up to her room. He paused half way up, but it suddenly felt weird to be under the same roof as the brother that stole his father way. He stalked outside. Rachel was ready to follow him, but heard the soft cries of Beth. Rachel dashed up the stairs, getting Beth. She quickly got Beth ready and took her outside; handing her to Puck who she was surprised was still leaning against the side of her house.

Puck relaxed holding his daughter, a smile overtaking his features as her little fingers wrapped around one of his, a smile on her face as her hazel eyes took him in. He placed a soft kiss upon her blonde locks. Rachel smiled, walking back with the stroller. Puck placed his little girl in, buckling her in. Rachel stepped aside letting him push. Rachel didn't push him to talk and he was thankful for that.

"Heard 'em fightin' one night, somethin' 'bout another family an he bailed on us. That shit hurt," Puck spoke, letting Rachel in on it. Seeing Jake in the flesh pissed him off even more. To know that his no good for shit father, had a second family out there, that Jake got to do all the shit he wanted to do with his ol' man. That shit wasn't kosher. He didn't even entertain the idea that ol' shit abandoned another family like his.

"Now that you know about Jake, maybe you can build a relationship with him. Get to know your brother," Rachel suggested. He wasn't going to blow her idea off, not to her face anyway. But he didn't think that would really work out. It just wasn't likely for them to bond as brothers.


	10. Chapter 10

The more time Jake spent at the Berry's house the less time Puck spent there with his girl and his daughter and it was starting to get to him. He couldn't have Rachel bring Beth to him when he wanted to spend time with both of them, it wasn't fair on Rachel. He had been taking his frustrations out on Rachel when it came to Jake. He didn't understand why he had to be at his girl's house for. Couldn't they go to his house? He had tried to ignore Jake the few times they were at the Berry house together, but that just turned out to be awkward with his girl trying to get involved to have them sit down and talk about their feelings and shit. He didn't sign up for that shit, so he left. He explained to Rachel that he couldn't just talk and things would be alright with Jake, it wasn't like that in his family.

He wasn't even paying attention when it was time to for the duets to be sung. He wasn't even paying attention when Quinn and Sam sung Maybe it's you by Thompson Square or when Brittany and Matt belted out Good Time by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen. He scoffed when he heard that Finn and Santana were going to sing If I Never see your face again by Maroon 5 featuring Rihanna, he tuned that out fast. He was surprised when Tina and Artie came with the song Stereo Hearts by Gym Class Heroes featuring Adam Levine, Artie was kinda his boy and he could rap, something they didn't let him do often enough. To hear that Mike and Mercedes were going to be belting out Heroes (We Could be) by Alesso featuring Tove Lo Was interesting to say and let Mike off the hook with actually singing. Feeling Rachel's elbow into his rib cage was his cue that it was now his turn with Rachel to sing the song they had prepared for over the last few days.

Puck sat on a stool in the middle of the stage in the auditorium, Rachel standing next to him, her hand on his shoulder as he plucked away at the chords. Puck started out, his fingers moving along the neck of his guitar. He tried to take the song in as he sung each word. He smiled softly when Rachel took over, admiring her voice as she got lost into the words she was singing.

Rachel's hand gripped down on Puck's shoulder as she got into her part for the song.

Their voices blended together as they sang coming together as one. Puck stood up from his stool, walking closer to the edge of the stage, Rachel next to him as they sang. They sang moving from the center of the stage, walking in a small circle around each other. The words ringing out the truth they would only know the extent of. They ran to each other when they needed someone and they wouldn't change that for the world. Puck had ran to Rachel when he had the urge to get drunk and run his mother's car through the 7/11 and try and steal the ATM, it was Rachel that talked sense into him, made him see the bigger picture.

As they started to sing the last part of the song they moved to opposite ends of the stage. They both turned around brown eyes met hazel ones.

Rachel belted out her part of running to Puck as she started to ran across the stage to Puck. As Puck sang the last notes of the song, he placed his guitar to the side and he ran to the middle of the stage, Rachel meeting him in the middle jumping into his arms as they spun around in a circle.

Mr. Shue congratulated them and dismissed them for the day; he needed to rethink the set list for sectionals now that he heard how amazing Puck and Rachel were together. Puck was holding Rachel's hand as they were walking to his truck. "Is Jake going to be hanging around your house tonight?" He asked, stopping and leaning against the side of his truck. Rachel stood between his legs, her hands resting on his chest, as his hands gripped her hips.

"I believe so; does that mean you won't be over tonight?" She asked, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. She hated that he would avoid her house because Jake was around all the time. She tried to understand this whole thing from Puck's perspective, but she found it hard.

"I'll be there," he replied, placing his hands on her hips. He couldn't let Jake dictate his life anymore than he already has. He could pretend for a few hours that Jake was nothing to him, after all Jake wasn't anything to him; he had plans on keeping it that way.

"Maybe you can guys can have a word and start on the path on becoming brothers," Rachel commented a smile brightening her features. He shook his head, pulling her in for a kiss, not wanting to ruin the good mood his girl was in. He wasn't ready to talk about being brothers with some kid that walked into his life by accident. There were plenty of times that he wanted a brother instead of a sister, but now it just didn't sit right with him.

"Rach," Puck sighed, helping her into his truck. Wordlessly he shut her door and walked around the truck to get in. "I appreciate you trying to help me with Jake, but I'm not ready to hang out and act like we had been screwed over by the same bastard of a father." Rachel nodded, taking the hand he had laying on his leg.

"Okay, I won't push, but just know that I'm here. And that Jake well he is not any better off than you are," she told him, lacing her fingers through his. He scoffed at that, he hardly doubted that Jake had it harder than he did. He had a little sister that he had to look after while his mom worked double shifts every chance she had just to make ends meet at home and that still wasn't enough, the money that he pulled in from his pool cleaning business, didn't help her out that much, not that she would take his money saying that he should spend it on himself.

Rachel let him into her house while she went and got Beth. Puck sat on the couch when Clint and Jake walked into the house. "Dude just wait here, I'll only be a minute." He heard Clint tell Jake. Puck looked up and locked eyes with Jake. Puck gave him a nod and Jake returned it.

"I know you have every reason to hate me and my Mom, Puck but is it so bad to have a brother?" Jake asked, not moving from the spot he rooted himself in.

"You took my Father away from me, ruined my family, what did you expect I was going to do when I saw you? Embrace you with brotherly love and shit?" Puck sneered.

"He told me about you, what he could remember anyways," Jake shrugged, ignoring the questions Puck had spit at him. "I thought it would cool to meet you and be brothers. To know that I have a brother and a sister out there and not able to meet them kinda sucks balls," Jake retorted.

"After Dad left, I tried to find him and you. I heard my parents fighting about another woman and a bastard child and even though I didn't understand the extent of it at that age, I knew that meant I had a brother out there and I wouldn't be stuck playing Barbie's and tea parties, I could play GI Joes and shit like that, but I always came up empty handed and I pushed you to the back of my mind and let myself forget that I had a half brother out there somewhere," Puck confessed, running a hand through his 'hawk, getting up. "Maybe," he stated, going up to Rachel's room, leaving his sentence hanging in the air. Jake could take that anyway he wanted to take it. His words left his mouth before he had a chance to even think them. He smiled realizing that his girlfriend was rubbing off on him in more than one way and he didn't really mind.

He took Beth from Rachel when they walked into the room and he sat on the floor playing with his daughter as Rachel started on her homework. Maybe was a great place to start when it came to Jake and building any kind of bond with him.


	11. Chapter 11

**You guys I didn't realize that it's been a month and a day since I last updated this story. I'm sorry for that. But I lost all inspiration for this story, I had so much planned for this story when I first started it, and now there are days I just want to delete it. Not that I will because you guys don't deserve that, the story just won't be as long as I had planned for it to be. I promise I will try my hardest to get the chapters up faster for all of you.**

 **I do know the other clubs stealing their songs was when they were Sophomore's but as you'll see that doesn't work out for me so I had to change it to a year later. Again I'm so sorry guys.**

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Sectionals had quickly approached them and they were in their seats watching the other schools perform. Things between Rachel and Puck were still really good, things with Quinn were still really rocky and Rachel tried a few times to talk to her about things but Quinn wanted no part in it. Finn had tried to be nice to Rachel, but after he had worked things out with Quinn where he could at least be her friend while she sorted out her own feelings, he didn't want things to get shot to hell when he really loved Quinn so that only really left him in the middle being uncomfortable so he let things drop as well. The rest of Glee club had taken a liking to Rachel as they saw how she was able to reign in Puck's behavior.

Hearing the opening chords of the song that was being performed on stage had the whole group sitting silently in anger as they watched another school do one of their songs, she knew that feeling in the pit of her stomach this morning was something she shouldn't have ignored. With the final school to go on before them, they were quickly trying to find a song that they could pull off without it looking like they just pulled it from the top of their heads.

Hearing not one or even two of their songs from their set list but their entire set list sung by their competition had all twelve members pissed off in the green room, as they freaked out on what they were going to do about it all. Looking around Rachel found that most the eyes in the room where on Santana, ready to blame her for doing this. Rachel couldn't understand why they would blame Santana to begin with but she wasn't going to let them start, they needed to remain calm and come up with a game plan. Blaming their team mates wasn't going to help them out any. Rachel laid her hand on a fuming Santana that was spewing Spanish, stating that she liked Glee club and that none of them were to tell a single soul that she had said such a thing.

"We can't blame each other, for what happened out there, we need to band together and come up with new songs and new routines," Rachel spoke softly. "Noah, we have that duet that we've been messing around with, that could work," she suggested.

"Uh yeah," Puck spoke up. "You got a lock on the Broadway shit, so all we need is a group number," he stated. Rachel looked around to see if anyone was going to argue with just giving her the solo. She hadn't been with them long enough just to take over their club. But they had seemed to agree with Puck, knowing that her voice was killer. They quickly went through the songs that they could do as a group, a number they had done for the fun of it one weekend when they were hanging out came up and Brittany and Mike headed off to figure out the choreography they could use with the song.

Rachel blew the roof of with her rendition of 'Don't Rain on my Parade.' As for the duet Puck sat on a stool in the middle of the stage, guitar in hand, Rachel sitting next to him. They expertly performed 'Need You Now' electing tears and a standing ovation from their audience. Puck and Rachel started them off with the group number of 'You can't always get what you want by the Rolling Stones' while the rest of the club joined them on stage singing their parts.

So maybe there had been a few problems at sectionals but in the end it had only brought them closer together as a club and teammates. Beating the other two schools was easier than the club had figured it would be once they had figured out their new songs on the set list. Last year they weren't able to go because they didn't have enough members. With Rachel as their secret weapon they were going to have no problem making it past regionals. Nationals here they come. Maybe they were getting ahead of themselves but they were confident.

Rachel was sitting with Puck, her head on his shoulder, his arm over her holding her close to him as the bus took them back to Lima. It had been only a few very long hours but she was missing her baby sister and the rest of her family, Leroy included. But the thing was they were taking Beth with them on a mini weekend trip. Clint was staying at Jake's until they got back. They trusted Rachel and they did want her to have normal teenage fun without worrying about her baby sister and worrying about how her mom was doing in New York.

"Guys I'm sorry but my parents cancelled their getaway this weekend," Brittany apologized, looking upset that she had to cancel their Glee party. Puck would have offered his house but his ma was going to be home.

Rachel chewed her lower lip as everyone grumbled on the bus about their party being cancelled and no house to relocate the party to. "We can move it to my place. The basement is the perfect place for a party," Rachel offered.

"What about your Dad, Leroy, Beth and Clint. Rach you can't just have a party and sneak us in. Not when it puts Beth in danger." She found Puck's concern cute.

"Clint is staying at Jake's this weekend. Dad and Leroy have taken Beth with them leaving me their responsible Daughter home by herself to have normal teenage fun," she explained. "Parties are part of being a normal teenager, is it not?" She questioned looking at Puck.

"It is," he was in the process of saying when Quinn spoke up hiding her smirk.

"Puck let her have this. It is just gonna be us, what could go wrong?" Quinn asked innocently enough. The rest of the club was quick to agree. Puck sighed running a hand through his 'hawk. He wasn't sold on the idea and that was a whole new feeling for him. Up until Rachel moved to town parties were his way of life. He wasn't going to be drinking tonight. Not when had an inkling that Quinn was up to something.

"You don't have to do this, Rach," he assured her wanting her to back out before things could end badly.

"I know, but I want too," she informed him. "We can play it safe. But I understand why you're so on edge about this," she commented.

"I don't know," he sighed tossing his head back. He couldn't explain the feeling he was experiencing.

"How are things with Jake?" She asked. Puck had been great with sharing a few things with her about his blossoming relationship with his brother.

"Good," he replied with a shrug. There wasn't anything new to report. They were building a brotherly relationship and despite how he treated Jake at the beginning they were becoming close, like the brothers they should have been. There wasn't anything new to say about it.


	12. Chapter 12

Rachel laughed as I Want it That Way by the Backstreet Boys started to play and Sam, Noah, Artie, Matt and Mike started to belt out the lyrics to the song. Rachel danced with Brittany and Santana and once that had gotten a bit awkward, she got a drink and flung herself on Blaine. He was Kurt's friend and his current crush. Blaine had made many visits to her house over the last few years seeking out the help from her father's so she didn't notice the way Puck was looking at her as she caught up with Blaine and how the Warblers were doing this year and how Kurt was adjusting to a private school, Puck stood next Kurt.

"I don't have anything to be jealous about now do I?" Kurt asked, watching his crush with Rachel.

"Hell Nah! Your boy is gay, right?" He asked his confidence wavering a little, watching how close Blaine and Rachel were.

"Yes," Kurt replied primly.

Puck sighed to himself with relief. He'd get to the bottom of it. For all he knew it could be this huge misunderstanding like with Matt. He didn't want to blow things out of proportion over nothing. He smirked, when Rachel, Santana, Brittany, Tina and Mercedes took the stage and started to belt out When I Grow up by the Pussycat Dolls.

Half way through the song there was a knock on the door. Puck had been the one to head upstairs to answer the door. He was pleasantly surprised to see the cops standing on the other side. He rushed down stairs to inform Rachel and things got a bit chaotic from there.

"What happened?" Leroy asked. Rachel shook her head. She had no idea on what had happened. One minute she's singing her heart out with the girls and the next thing she knows the cops are there breaking their party up. She was thankful that Puck had stopped any of the Gleeks from bringing alcohol in saying they don't need to get trashed to have a good time. It was true and Santana had been the one to throw the biggest fit until Brittany talked to her and then all was good again. She thought something fishy was going on when Quinn had left early but she hadn't let that thought tug at her mind the rest of the night. She was having fun with her friends her mom was the furthest thing from her mind and she knew Beth was in good hands.

"What were they saying?" Rachel asked, chewing her lip. Hiram had kicked everyone out when they showed up after they had talked to the cops. Leroy had already put Beth to bed while Hiram had started to converse with the cops. Hiram shook his head at his eldest daughter and went to bed after the mess had been cleaned up for the night.

"It turned out to be nothing. No one is in trouble with the law..." he trailed off, when Hiram appeared.

"But you are grounded," Hiram called from his spot on the bottom of the stairs.

"I was being a normal teenager like you wanted for me. We weren't doing anything wrong. There were no drugs and no alcohol. We might have gotten a bit loud, but that was it," Rachel protested. Leroy shared a look with his husband.

"I know this, Rachel but it still ended with the cops being called and the house being searched for drugs and Leroy and myself being interrogated because of speculation on being bad parents," Hiram stated. She could tell that he was leaving something out, the right people needed to be contacted for that and she had a feeling that they were going to have a visit from social services within the next week. "Go to bed, Rachel, now."

"I'm sorry," she told them hurrying up the stairs. She collapsed against the door, sliding down to the floor. Maybe she should have listened to Noah on the bus ride back to Lima about having a party.

"You uh okay, Rach?" She jumped at the voice, sending him a glare.

"How'd you get in? My Dad sent you out of here, I watched you drive away and I didn't hear your truck pull up," Rachel rattled off, not moving from her spot on the floor. Puck chuckled; sitting next to her, putting his arm around her shoulders pulling her into him.

"It wasn't that far of a walk, just a few blocks. And you weren't answering your phone and I had to know what was going on. I've gotten good at climbing trees and sneaking through windows," he retorted. Rachel wasn't even going to ask how that was because she had a feeling on why he had gotten so good at it, it was better to leave that topic alone for about ever. She had him now and that counted for more than any one night stands he has ever had with any cougar in this stupid small town or any cheerio he had been with. "What happened?"

"Someone told the police there was drugs here and that…" she trailed off licking her lips, looking down at her lap. "Bad parenting came up," she finished off quietly.

"That's crazy," Puck growled. He was going to have one hell of a talk with Quinn when he was done comforting his girl.

"I know," Rachel told him softly. "Noah I appreciate you coming back to check on me but I really want to be left alone and try to get some sleep," she told him, getting up. Puck nodded pulling her in for a hug.

"Call me if you need anything," he stated, pressing his lips against hers.

"I will even though I'm grounded," she answered breaking the kiss. Puck kissed her forehead and vanished through the window. Rachel closed her window before walking across the hall to where Beth was sound asleep. Rachel sat in the chair and watched as the soft light from the night light hit her sister's face. They longer she sat there the harder it was for her to keep her eyes from drooping shut.

It took Puck very few minutes to get back to his truck, even less time to drive across town to where Quinn's house was located at. Sneaking into her house was difficult. He had only ever been there once before and he would have been lost if someone wasn't with him to show him the way. A few minutes after getting inside the house and maneuvering his way in the dark he came across Quinn's room. He shoved the door open seeing the light was still on in her room.

"Had to leave early, huh?" Puck asked, standing in the doorway. "You just had to get outta there before the cops showed up, the same cops that you had called. You knew damn well there wasn't any drugs there and you know that both the Berry men are excellent Fathers, so what in the hell is your damn problem?" Puck glared at the blonde that looked so smug sitting on her bed.

"My Daughter belongs here with me and not with her," Quinn sneered. "Who says I was calling to turn them in?" She asked right back a smirk firmly in place.

"Because Rachel is only Beth's sister, not a parental figure," Puck responded, ignoring the fact Quinn had referred to Beth as her child and not their daughter. She wasn't really their daughter anymore; they gave their rights up to being called mom and dad when they signed their rights away to Shelby.

"You would think that would make getting my Daughter back so much easier, but it's not because as long as Shelby is alive, Rachel has custody over my kid," Quinn hissed, "this is only the first step in getting my child back, you can either join me or stay out of my way."

"You wanted to give her up, Quinn. I pleaded with you to keep her so we could raise her. You told me that giving her away was for the best. I didn't want to believe you, hell I didn't believe you until I saw her again and you know what? We did the right thing, and you have to let this go, Quinn."

"You don't get it, Puck. I gave myself away, she's all I've got and now that she's back here, I want to be apart of her life as her Mother," Quinn spoke softly.

"No you think you do, but you don't Q, she's where she belongs. She has a family that loves her and that can give her the things you want for her. Rachel told you from the get go that she would allow you into Beth's life. And one day Beth will know that you are her Mother and what do you think she is going to think of you for trying to take her away from her family, the only family that she knows? Is that what you want for her to resent you years from now?" Puck asked, taking a seat on the bed next to Quinn.

"No," Quinn sighed, laying her head on his shoulder. "What have I done?" She asked, closing her eyes.

"Something stupid but it can be fixed, Quinn, at least I think it can be. You need to sit down and talk to Rachel and not insult her or name call or even be your normal bitchy self, but really talk to her and let her in. She'll understand. She does want you to be apart of Beth's life too."

"I'll think about it," Quinn told him. "I'm sorry, how much trouble is she in?" She asked, chewing her lip.

"I'm not the one that needs to be told," Puck told her. "Grounded, not sure how long though."

"I know," Quinn replied. "You can go back to her now. I'll be fine, I just need time to think and I can't do that with you here." She was being nice about that. But in order for her to really think things through she needed for Puck to leave. Puck gave her hand a gentle squeeze and slipped out of the house.

"Ya know you can use the front door, Noah," Leroy called from the porch holding back a chuckle at the startled boy in the tree. Puck cringed slightly and jumped from his spot in the tree joining the older man on the porch.

"I'm sorry and I know she's grounded, but I just had to see her and make sure that she's okay," Puck told him, rubbing the back of his neck.

"She's in Beth's room," Leroy told him, letting him enter the house first. "I trust you've learned your lesson after having Beth and I know that you respect Rachel."

"I have and I do," Puck answered. "I don't want to get her into anymore trouble than she already is in."

"I'll handle Hiram in the morning, you just make sure your Ma knows that you're safe if you end up staying the night," Leroy told him, shutting and locking the front door. He trusted both Noah and Rachel. Before they had left they had told Rachel to enjoy being a teen and that she could have people over and it wasn't like she was having a house party. There was only the glee club plus Kurt and Blaine, Quinn was the only member of glee to be missing. It was all just a misunderstanding and Rachel wasn't to be blamed for that. He got that much. Everyone does stupid things growing up.

"Will do," Puck told him, going upstairs. He smiled walking into Beth's room. He bent over to softly kiss Beth's head whispering a good night. "Hey Rach," Puck whispered, gently shaking her by the shoulder.

"Noah," she mumbled in her sleep. Puck chuckled and picked her up. He walked across the hall laying her in bed. Going back to shut doors, Puck walked back to the bed stripping down to his underwear, ready to hold his girl. Getting under the covers he pulled Rachel closer to himself and felt his eyes getting heavy.


	13. Chapter 13

**I can't even begin to say how sorry I really am for leaving you all the way I have with this story. I have no real excuses on why it's taken me nearly 5 months to do one little update when I can update my other stories weekly. You don't have to read what little excuses I do have and skip the to story if you want but this whole story has become something else entirely and nothing close to what it was in my head when I started and that has thrown me for a loop on how I want to progress things, but I do have a few ideas for a the next few chapters so those should be up hopefully once a week. I also kept coming up a blank on how I wanted this chapter to go and I don't like what I have but it's better than nothing and I didn't want keep everyone of you waiting longer than you should. Once again I'm sorry for the wait for this chapter, I hope you guys like it better than I do. I get it may not seem like something that would actually happen but I've tried to mold this chapter for the past three days or better and I can't get it to be any other way, I'm sorry if you guys don't agree with what takes place.**

 **Mistakes are mine and I'm sure there's going to be a few. Please enjoy!**

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Rachel was finding that Monday at school things had been a whirlwind. The rumors on her party being broken up by the cops had spiraled out of control. By the time lunch came around her party had been more like a little college party than the little glee party that it truly was. It was weird to be getting such praise from the jocks, the same jocks that made her sweet Noah slushy her. Wanting some quiet to work on the glee assignment that Mr. Schue gave them that morning she headed to the auditorium. She wanted to find a song that meant the world to her, a song to show off the strength she had within herself.

"Puck told me you'd be here," a suddenly shy Quinn said, stealing Rachel's attention from the piano she had just sat at. Rachel didn't say anything, felt like she had nothing to say to her, not until Quinn apologized for her rude behavior towards her. "I get that I'm not your favorite person, Rachel. I've been a bitch to you," Quinn said, sitting next to her on the piano bench, playing with her fingers. She thought about it and Puck was right she had crossed a line and she would suck it up and apologize to Rachel because Rachel didn't deserve the attitude she had been giving her. "I'm sorry for everything, for acting like you have no say over Beth, for acting like she's my daughter, for calling the police and saying things I shouldn't have. If I could take it back I would. Beth is your sister and there is nothing I can do to change that. She needs you and not me, the one person that she should have been able to always count on," Quinn told her finally looking up at her.

"I may be her sister and my mom is her mom, but the thing is you will always be the most important woman in Beth's life. You gave her up because you loved her enough to realize that you couldn't give her everything she needed in life," Rachel started to explain. She had been shocked to hear Quinn apologize, wasn't expecting it, but she was happy that Quinn had. She didn't want there to be something between them, not when things were only going to get harder when Beth got older. "She will always know that you loved her so much and she'll love you just as much. You can always be apart of her life and I can only guess that it'll get easier in time for you especially when she starts to ask questions only you and Noah can give her. I never wanted to keep her from you. I wanted to help because it was the right thing to do," Rachel informed her. "I can't forgive you for the stunt you pulled but one day sooner rather than later I will be as long as you go back to Quinn, not this impostor one, but maybe that fun and sweet Quinn I got to know before all this baby drama took place," she suggested with a hint of a smile.

"I can do that," Quinn replied softly standing up. She wanted to ask about Beth, but thought better of it. She had time over the weekend to really think about things and as much as she wanted the little girl who would never be hers in her life, she was willing to wait if it meant Beth would be in her life in some form.

"So you see Noah is busy tomorrow with family things," Rachel announced, making Quinn stop and turn back to the teen diva. Rachel wasn't lying, Noah did have a certain family member to see but she wasn't going to go spreading something so personal around the halls of McKinley high. "My daddy works late and Clint and Leroy have this thing they do and that leaves me and Beth with no plans, so if you want you can come over and see her tomorrow," Rachel suggested, being the person her parents raised her to be.

"Really?" Quinn squeaked out. Rachel nodded her head. "Thank you, I'll be there after Cheerio practice, is that okay?"

"It is fine," Rachel agreed with a small head nod.

Saying her thank yous', Quinn nearly skipped out of the auditorium. Taking a deep breath going over what she had just agreed to in her head, she didn't hear anyone approach her from behind. She jumped letting a small yelp out feeling the hands on her shoulders.

"Babe shh is just me," Noah cooed in her ear, getting Rachel's heart rate back to normal. The first thing she did was elbow him in the gut for what he had done. "Ouch," he responded with a faint hint of a smile on his face, rubbing his stomach where her pointy elbow had dug in at.

"Don't ever do that again," she scolded him. He apologized, kissing her temple, sitting next to her, his back pressed against the piano. "How long were you hiding for?" Rachel asked, looking down at her hands, glancing at her boyfriend from the corner of her eye.

"Since Fabray asked where she could find you, had to make sure she wasn't going to pull some BS on my girl," he smirked, moving to straddle the piano bench, taking her hand in his. "That was nice of you but you didn't have to do that, you could've made her work for it, we all know how she is," Puck stated.

"I know, Noah," she sighed. "But if I was in her place and conflicted and so lost, if someone wasn't there for me, to let me see the beautiful little girl I let go because it was the right thing to do. I'd need it," she sighed. "She was hurt with how it's all played out, Noah. She was doing what she thought was the right thing to do right or wrong and at the end of the day it's what's best for Beth and if my little sister can have any kind of relationship with you and Quinn, I'm going to let her have it. Beth deserves to know that because you guys screwed up doesn't mean you don't love her or want to be in her life in some form. I can push my feelings aside for my baby sister's benefit," Rachel explained, only stopping now needing to breathe.

"I get it, Rach," he told her softly, his free hand going up to cup her face. "She may not deserve it yet but she needs this and you're amazing for seeing that," he confirmed.

"I'm not seeing her to be her friend, I don't think I could be friends with Quinn, at least not any time soon," Rachel confessed to her boyfriend who in return gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "I'm letting her see Beth in general. She's hurting and she ultimately has no one," Rachel told him softly a crack in her voice. She may not know what it was they are going through or how it truly felt to give a piece of them away, she was trying to understand and seeing Quinn so hurt and vulnerable like that it hurt her as well, not as much as it had kill Rachel on the inside when she saw Noah so lost and hurt when he had to do the right thing for his little girl. As much as it hurt her to even think of Beth as Noah and Quinn's, she would always be theirs, you couldn't bypass that one little fact. She wanted them to know Beth and at the end of the day Beth had every right to know them, but she couldn't help just how bad that hurt her.

"I know, Rach," Puck told her softly, tugging her up with him. "How are you doing with everything?" He asked in a small whisper, pulling her tight against his body, holding her like she was his only lifeline.

"I'll manage," she told him in a faint voice, her arms wrapped tight around him. "She'll always be my sister, but with her being your biological daughter it feels weird at times and I know it shouldn't and all that, but it does and I'm afraid just a little that she'll like you and Quinn more than me because of everything and she won't need me anymore once she gets older and can understand everything that went on," she told him in a broken voice.

"Not possible, babe. She's always going to need her sister," he told her pressing his lips against her head. "It shouldn't be weird, I had a part in bringing her into this world, but I could never really take over the role of being her father, I'm okay with just being in her life period, I don't need a label, not when it comes to her," he told her straight from the heart. Rachel had always been one of the very few people he could be open with. He didn't mind sharing is feelings with her. With everyone else it was easier to put on the front that he was a badass with no feelings and that was exactly who Puck was, but Noah was like everyone else and he hated to talk about his feelings but with Rachel it was easy because he knew without a doubt that she would ever judge him for what he was feeling or thinking.

"Thank you for that Noah," she told him with a bright smile looking up at him. He shrugged letting his lips take hers over in a way of telling her that she was welcome, because sometimes words weren't needed, not when he could just as easily make out. Rachel smiled breaking the kiss. "Have you thought about a song for Glee?" She asked her boyfriend, moving away from his embrace and instantly feeling cold, to get her things.

"It's a work in progress, babe," he smirked, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side where she was tucked away for safekeeping. "We can't all be like you, babe" he joked, leading her to the halls filled with students. She rolled her eyes and let him lead her straight to her locker.


	14. Chapter 14

**I hope you guys like this one, I'm not a huge fan of this one but if I keep it and try and tweak it anymore than I already have, it would never get posted. Enjoy!**

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"Rach, what are you doing here?" Matt questioned opening up his front door to see his best friend and her baby sister. "Didn't you have plans with Quinn?" He questioned positive that was what he had heard from a few different people including the petite diva standing before him, opening the door to let them in.

"We did and after waiting an hour and trying her phone a million times and getting no reply, I got tired of waiting on her, I would go see Noah, but he's busy and I don't really want to bother him right now," she informed her friend. She didn't want to interrupt brother time as the time they spent together was crucial and they didn't need her to crash it. "Besides we haven't really spent time together, so it made it sense," she said picking her sister up.

"I'd like that, but uh Mike, Finn, Artie and Sam are here," he let her know. He didn't know how well they would like for Rachel to just drop in on them. Rachel sighed softly thinking maybe she could head over to see Santana and Brittany but again she didn't know what they were up too and she didn't want to be in the same predicament that she's in now either. She didn't want to go back home, she really wanted to be around people.

"Oh maybe another time then?" She asked him, looking down.

"Nah, it's fine and I don't think they'll mind too much," he told her, tossing an arm around her in a friendly way. He didn't want to see her so upset and he didn't have the balls to just kick her out and watch her mope all the way back to the car.

"You sure?" She questioned, walking with Matt and readjusting Beth in her arms.

"If they don't like it, they can take off, Rach. You're my friend too and I'm not going to kick ya out of here because they have something against it," he assured her as they walked into the living room. "Guys Rachel and Beth are going to join us," Matt announced to the room filled with guys. Rachel gave them a small smile.

"Can I?" Finn asked, looking at Beth, the little girl that he once considered his.

"Sure," she replied handing Beth over. She had never really considered how hard any of it was for him when it came to Beth. She was pleasantly shocked when Finn started to talk to Beth making the little girl in his arms smile.

It was Quinn's loss, not hers and she was not going to go any extra miles for Quinn to see Beth, if Quinn ever decided to come around well she wouldn't say no but it would be with Noah.

"We're playing guitar hero, you ever played?" Sam asked. He didn't care that Rachel just crashed guy night. He wanted to get to know her better and this seemed like the best option.

"The mic it uh kinda broke in the trip from the city," Matt told her with a shrug. It didn't need to be mentioned that he might have broken it before the move because it simply didn't matter.

"But don't worry we'll start off on easy until you get the hang of it," Mike assured her.

Rachel rolled her eyes taking the guitar that was sitting next to Finn. "If you need anything for her let me know," she told him adjusting the strap. Finn was content with holding the girl in his arms. "Now lets get this started and easy is for babies," Rachel smirked. Mat laughed grabbing the extra guitar.

* * *

With Puck and Jake they had just walked out of the arcade at the mall. It had only taken about a day before they let their guards down around each other. Puck enjoyed having a little brother to pick on; it was different than having a little sister. Accepting Jake wasn't all that hard after he focused all the anger and hate he had towards the one person responsible for it all, their father.

"Ma is gonna be working a double shift this weekend and it would be alright if ya came over to the house, Rachel and Beth are going to be there and you can meet Dani," Puck suggested. Normally he would talk his sister into going to a friend's house so he could throw a party but now that Rachel and Beth were around, he had to prove to himself that he could be man that he would do right by the daughter he had let go. To show everyone that he was more than the Lima Loser they all thought he was going to be.

"You wouldn't mind?" Jake asked timidly. Getting to know Puck had been great and he stayed away from the topic of his little sister and now he was getting the chance to meet her and he was ready for it, but that didn't mean Puck was ready to share his kid sister. The last thing he wanted to do was intrude in Puck's life.

"She can get a bit annoying but you'll like her. Look Jake they know I've been getting to know you and she wants to be in your life too and it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world," he responded with a shrug. He liked Jake and he had no doubts that Dani would like him as well; he saw no point in keeping them away from each other. His sister was getting on his last nerve about wanting to meet Jake and now seemed like the perfect time for that to happen. He really didn't think Jake wanted to put up with his Ma cause she could be a bit much at times.

"Alright I'll be there," Jake replied with a smile.

Puck tuned his brother out when he saw Quinn with a few of the other Cheerio's laughing at something. That pissed Puck off because he knew for a fact that Quinn was supposed to be over at Rachel's house seeing Beth. It pissed him off because Quinn yet again was picking herself over the little girl they had gave away and now he was seeing just how right of a choice that had been on her part. "Hold on a minute, Jake I've got something I need to handle," he told his brother walking up to the group of Cheerio's. "Quinn a word," he hissed.

Quinn rolled her eyes but walked a short distance away Puck behind her. "What's the meaning of this, I've got things to do?" She questioned, annoyed with Puck for ruining her afternoon.

"How's Beth doing?" Puck asked. Quinn paled and looked down. "Don't have an answer do you?" He sneered.

"I got scared, I heard what Rachel said today, but I can't do it," Quinn said softly. "I can't ruin that little girl's life worse than I already have."

"That isn't true," Puck told her, his fingers playing with his 'hawk. "One day Beth is going to want the answers only you can give her. But if you don't want to be apart of her life, that's up to you, Quinn," Puck told her walking off.

"Everything okay?" Jake asked when Puck was next to him.

"Yeah, come on and I'll drop ya off at home," Puck told him. Jake only nodded sensing that something more was going on and that Puck didn't want to talk about it.

After dropping Jake off Puck couldn't help but worry about Rachel. He frowned seeing that no one was at her place. It was getting too late for them to be at the park and he didn't know where else she would go. She hadn't called him and she wasn't answering her phone. He growled thinking that maybe she would be with Matt. Doing a U-turn he sped his way to Matt's place. Sure enough there was her car. He tossed his pick-up in park and turned it off and ran to the front door, he didn't even knock because ya know he was bros with Matt and he had to make sure Rachel was okay. He relaxed watching Artie and Mike playing with Beth as Finn and Rachel were killing it on Guitar Hero. He walked up to where Artie and Mike where and bent down to kiss the top of Beth's head.

"Hey Noah," Rachel said, hugging him once the song was over with. "You okay?" she whispered in his ear feeling the tight grip he had for the hug.

"Now I am why didn't you call me when she didn't show up?" Puck questioned her, pulling away from the hug enough to look her in the eyes.

"I didn't want to bother you," she told him simply. "Want to play?" She asked with hopefully eyes.

"Not my fault if I murder you in this game," he smirked, taking the guitar off of Finn. Hearing everyone in the room laugh at him made his smirk fall slightly.

"Then I'll go easy on ya killer," Rachel smiled sweetly at him sending all the guys into a laughter fit. He glared at them and went through the song list finding the perfect song to play against Rachel.


End file.
